MMM: A Prophecy Unto the Nations
by Syaoron the Fox
Summary: Large scale war with Eggman. Personal and economic depression. The greatest conspiracy in history. Only a few dare to stand with Truth and Virtue against force and money. See heroes that do not give in to evil, but charge ever more boldly against it.
1. Chapter 1

**Syaoron: viewers, this will be my first co-write, as it is Blackstone's first co-write as well, so please be patient with us. Communication between us is often fragmented, so it may be some time between chapters.**

**Disclaimer: We don't claim or own anything from Sega, Archie, or Sonic X.**

**Claimer: We own this plot, and all characters not affiliated with the previously mentioned.**

* * *

Panting, heavy panting sounded; there were the sounds of heavy running, and a heavy thunderstorm just overhead. Then there was the Cosmos of grief and guilt that bore down heavily upon the shoulders of the young Atlas. He was running up a mountain, trying to get the better of the world, but alas, the world had pinned him down with that mountain of responsibility. What had happened with what he had been entrusted had nearly ruined him. Whether he was trying to find either fulfillment or an escape was unknown even to him.

The rain started coming down, pouring itself over the world with its cleansing effect. It did this because the world was in motion, always acting, always running toward a state of change.

As he climbed up the mountain, he was being carefully watched by a man through a scope. "Sir, I just radioed into sentry 2-B about a potential intruder." The sniper muttered to his superior, keeping his barrel trained on the suspect. "He looks to be a fox; yellow, about ten years of age. I have a clear view of his head, should I take the shot?"

"No," a man said standing above him, squinting in the rain through his binoculars, "I don't know this one. But perhaps he's that famous kitsune whom we've heard rumors of?"

"He is," said the sniper, "he has two tails."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

(_"The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. … and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction."__** -St. George Tucker**_**) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 1**_

_**A Fresh Start**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

A gloved hand reached up from bellow the cliff and clamped down on the slippery edge. This hand was followed by yet another, and the two hands pulled a drenched kitsune up onto the cliff edge, where he rolled out and laid spread eagled. The kit rolled his eyes lazily as he struggled to stand up again; his only motivation was the thing that lay in his line of sight.

While it had taken him hours of pain and constant travel, he had finally reached the Astros Military Outpost, thusly dedicated to the observatory that used to be atop this very same mountain. He crawled to his feet as he slowly stumbled toward the entrance, guarded by two Mobians.

This facility was used to deploy some of the best operatives to their missions, be the objective simple, or confidential. To even be moved up to this compound was an honor, thus it was put under the highest amount of protection.

The raccoon sentry placed his hand on the kit's shoulder and gave him a discerning stare. "Okay Miles 'Tails' Prower, it's impressive that you got up here without any form of transportation," he said, sighing as he did so. "However, I'm not allowed to let you in."

The fox dubbed Miles reached for the raccoon's hand and pushed it off of him. "I'm sorry officer, but I need to get in." He spoke solemnly, as though weighed down by a layer of depression. He hung his head low, not allowing the militants to see him, as he continued to try walking past them.

This time, the second guard –a female feline –held her arms out in front of the gate. "I afraid that we can't let you in, honey." she spoke, attempting to sound empathetic. Everyone was aware of the event that had taken place just weeks ago. While in space, fending off a group of intergalactic transgressors known as the Metarex, Tails had been forced to kill Cosmo, a Seedrian from a distant planet, to save the universe.

While some people thought that only her death was what caused his sorrow, those people were wrong. A sole few, such as the cat that stood before him, were able to interpret the love they had for each other, and saw a much deeper sorrow. Those people saw the aching sorrow of being stripped of half of one's soul.

"You don't seem to understand, Miss." Tails spoke, a cracked edge in his voice. He then looked up at the cat, revealing his weary eyes and the tears that ran down his cheek, even in the rain. She could tell that kit was on the border of breaking down, and that the slightest displeasure toward his goal would push him over the edge. "I _need _to see the commanding officer here."

The cat sighed, knowing how far he had to come to reach here, even if he could fly with his twin tails. Even the trainees at the base never had to scale the mountain by foot, always choosing to take the secure elevator that went through the mountain. To be crushed at the very last moment would surely be a great letdown… "I'm sorry Tails, but I can't let you through."

She thought for a moment that he had finally let loose a sniffle, but perhaps it was his feet scuffing the rock as he slowly turned away, returning to the stormy night. Taking steps into the night, Tails walked away in defeat and despair…

"Let him through, Kamile."

Tails swiftly turned back around to see the cat –apparently named Kamile –unlocking the gate and letting a jet black falcon wearing a green general's coat through. Five stars were sewn on his right shoulder along with a variety of pins covering his left breast. He gave a curt nod to Kamile and she stepped to the side, allowing Tails to pass with the General.

"I am General Conan Shaw." The falcon introduced himself once they were inside the lobby of the military complex, holding his hand forward which Tails firmly shook. For a second, he saw Tails flash a brief smile, and a flicker of excitement in his eyes. "What brings you up here on such a dreadful day, Miles?"

Tails looked up at the falcon, soon to tell him the reason he was here when he saw his eyes. His eyes seemed stretched, weary with age. But he saw something deeper behind those hazelnut irises; a sense of understanding or patience. With a shaky breath, Tails responded, "I heard your facility was the best, and I was hoping that you could possibly train me…"

General Shaw narrowed his sharp eyes slightly as he heard that. From someone who was only nine years of age… It was unthinkable. "Now son, I'm amazed that you've scaled this mountain on your own, especially at such a young age," He admitted. Then, turning back to Tails, he said, "However, I can't allow you to train with us."

"But, why?" Tails practically shouted. "Do you think I'm incapable of taking care of myself because I'm young?"

"No Miles, your age is not a factor in this," Conan replied, looking back at the soldiers who passed throughout the halls. "I just don't want a dirty conscience for subjugating you –a person who's going through PTSD –to intense training."

"So, it's because you think I'm mentally incapable?" Tails continued to interrogate. "Let me prove to you that I can withstand this!"

"And what do you offer on your end of _proving yourself_?"

Tails was silent for a moment, thinking of things that could possibly prove him worthy for training. "I… I'll help out on missions! I'll use the training you provide to help you out with missions. Just please, give me a chance!"

The General was going to glare back at the kit when he saw his eyes. The blue orbs that he imagined would hold excitement and hope were bloodshot and on the verge of tears. He saw a life of pain in those eyes, and he knew what had caused this…

Sighing, Conan nodded and gave a faint smile. "Then I'll hold you to that promise, Private Prower," He declared, causing Tails eyes to light up like a thousand suns.

"Thanks so much, General!" He exclaimed to the falcon, "I'll do my best!"

General Shaw nodded, then turned and let out a piercing whistle. Immediately all the operatives in the room lined up before him horizontally. "This is the kind of respect you get when you're my rank, kid," Shaw whispered to Tails, who chuckled slightly.

Conan then raised his voice and addressed the gathered soldiers. "Alright, I need a volunteer for giving our newest recruit a tour. Any takers?"

As soon as the offer was given, everyone's hand shot up in response, all wanting to meet and greet the newbie. Conan raised his eye, trying to figure out who would be the best to show Tails around, and he pointed out a grey ferret. "Private First Class Garret Withers, reporting for duty, sir!" the ferret shouted upon being chosen.

General Shaw nodded and gestured toward Tails. "Withers, this is Private Miles Prower. He will be joining us for training as well as accompaniment on missions."

Withers stared at the kitsune and cocked his head to the side. _This kid is the new recruit? _He pondered while looking back up to the General. "Sir, it is to my understanding that this child is our new recruit."

"That is correct, Withers."

"But, he's…" the ferret reexamined the kit before continuing, "He's just a little kid!"

"Don't call me that," Tails suddenly spoke up to Garret. "I'm not a child. I can take care of myself."

Garret gazed at the fox apathetically, but seeing only determination in the fox. He then nodded and shook Tails' hand with a smile. "Well then, it's nice to meet you, Prower." He greeted the kit.

Tails only nodded and replied, "Likewise."

Garret flashed the briefest of frowns before returning to his enthusiastic charisma. "You're not very talkative, are you?"

Tails shrugged. "Not exactly what you expected from a _kid_, huh?"

At that comment, Withers let out a hardy laugh. "I wouldn't have expected a kid to even get into this facility, so I'll try holding my expectations a little higher." He then turned around and motioned for the young fox to follow.

They stood at the center of the lobby and Withers pointed in the direction of one of the halls. "That hall leads to the east wing. There, you can do all the training you please. From obstacle courses, to simple weight lifting, and even close quarters combat simulations, we've got it all there. You can browse it later."

Turning around, they then stared down the hall on the opposite side of the room. "Over there leads to the west wing. There, we have our armory and hanger, as well as several debriefing rooms."

They then turned to left and began walking down the final hallway. "These are the barracks." He explained, noting the several other rooms they passed. "There are very few operatives in this base, so you can use any empty room to your liking."

Withers turned to look down at Tails, and saw bags underneath his eyes. No doubt, he was exhausted from scaling the mountain. "I bet you're pretty tired, huh?" Garret remarked, and Tails merely nodded. "Well, there's a mess hall down at the end of this hallway. Get there fast though, because tonight is pizza night, and we ordered pepperoni!"

Quickly remembering that he was about to miss out, Garret rushed into the mess hall, followed swiftly by a befuddled Tails. Garret practically shoved people out of the line as he picked up to slices and headed to a nearby table, leaving Tails with a confused expression upon his face.

He felt a paw on his shoulder and turned around to find chipmunk shaking his head at Garret. "So, you're the new recruit, huh? Aren't you that famous guy, Miles Prower?" He asked, receiving an answer in the affirmative from the kit. "Well, Garret's always like that. I think he's got a weird pepperoni fetish."

Tails laughed at that, wondering just how much the energetic ferret liked pepperoni. "What's your name, sir?" He questioned the chipmunk.

He smirked, and held a pose with his thumb pointing at himself while his other arm was poised on his hip. "I'm Calico Turner; Staff Sergeant," he introduced himself. "Don't be shy, Prower. Just go up and get some pizza. It is self-serve after all."

Thanking the chipmunk quickly, Tails got into the end of the line, which wasn't so long since Garret had disturbed it so much. He figured there would be more of an option than simply pepperoni pizza, but he didn't complain as he put two slices of the cheesy pizza on his paper plate.

Then, without another word, he left the mess hall for his room.

"Hey, what's his problem?" Garret asked Calico, his mouth slightly overstuffed with pizza. "You'd think I'd get a bit of a thank you."

For that comment, Calico gave the ferret a firm smack on the back of his head. "Haven't you heard?" He asked Garret, who merely raised his brow toward the subject. "Tails went with Sonic and the others to save the universe a couple weeks ago, but to end it all, Tails had to take the final shot on a girl he liked. He's not even remotely _in _the mood to _thank_ you, so have a little respect!"

Garret blushed in embarrassment and rubbed his head. "Okay, I'm sorry…" He mumbled.

Turner still shook his head and looked back toward Withers. "Don't tell me that. I'm not the one who needs to be apologized to." He told the ferret while looking off toward the barracks.

Away in his room, Tails took out a small pack that he kept in the fur of his tails. While it had gotten soggy, the inside was revealed to be completely dry as he took out a towel and rubbed himself over to dry himself off.

Once he was reasonably clear of water, he dumped the remainder of his pack out onto the floor, including a canteen, a small notebook, two black ink pens, and a framed photo. He picked up the photo and couldn't help but let a tear seep out as he remembered that night. That was the night when Cosmo and he had thrown a party and they all got together for a little picture. In the photo, He was right next to Sonic and Cosmo.

The tear in his eyes dripped down his cheek and onto the glass frame, which he quickly rubbed off with his tail. He then propped the photo on a small table by the side of his bed.

He then took the small notebook and opened it up, forgetting about the stamps he had put in it before hand as they fell into his lap. He picked up the stamps and smiled; they showed an old image of him and Sonic, after they had destroyed the Death Egg, he believed.

He then took a pen to notebook and began writing,

_Dear Sonic,_

_How's everything going? I hope I didn't leave too suddenly. I just wanted you to know that I've gone away to improve myself. I just don't want any of you to end up like Cosmo. By the way, could you check in on Cream every now and again? I gave her Cosmo's seed, since she's good with flowers, but I'm still a bit worried. Thanks for everything!_

_Your bro,  
Miles 'Tails' Prower_

Another tear escaped his eyes as he finished the last of the letter. He was well aware of the things that he was leaving behind, but he saw it as necessary. He realized that death could very well happen to everyone, and he wanted to preserve his friends' lives.

With that thought aside, he flipped to the back of the book and retrieved a small envelope, just large enough so he could fit his message within, and thus he did. After sealing the envelope and placing one of his stamps in the corner, he placed the letter on the bedside table and took a bite from the pepperoni pizza slice. He then unscrewed the cap to his canteen and took a swig of water, clearing his throat and mouth of the lingering pizza.

He went about this pattern until his plate only held crumbs of what was once pizza. He placed the plate on the bedside table as well, deciding to deal with his trash later, and he splayed out on the bed.

With nothing else to occupy his time, he let his eye lids slowly drape over his eyes ad his vision blacked out.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

He awoke the next morning to a blaring voice over the intercom. **"How ya' doing, everybody?" **the obnoxious voice blasted into his ears, causing him to fall off his bed in surprise. He gave an annoyed glare to the speaker on the roof, as he reconfigured himself. **"The weathers looking nice after all of those storms, so it's gonna be a good day!"**

Tails groaned as he rolled onto his chest and forced himself to stand up. He returned his belongings from the table to his bag and held the plate and letter in his hand. Upon exiting the room, he noticed a garbage can, which he promptly threw the plate into.

In a room adjacent to his, he saw Calico with a similar dreary expression upon his face. He looked over to Tails and shook his head. "Sorry, Prower," The chipmunk muttered. "Garret must be on wake up duty today."

"I hear you, man." Tails replied while stretching out his limps and joints. He then spotted a small mail box next to his door and promptly placed his letter on the inside. "Let's go get breakfast before Garret decides that we weren't woken up."

With a nod, he and Calico proceeded to the mess hall where the operatives were being served oatmeal. The two of them received a bowl of the porridge and found a table to sit at and eat their food. "So, tell me about yourself, Tails." Calico suggested, hoping to find out more about his comrade.

Tails sighed and lay back, with his hands behind his head. "There's not much you really want to know, other than that I'm normally not this gloomy."

"And, suppose I want to know what you think I don't want to?"

Tails glanced over to his new friend and then let the speech flow, "I used to work with mechanics a lot in my spare. I'm sure you've seen or heard of some of my inventions, and I plan to get a position on the engineering squad here. I was an orphan, left out in the streets when my parents were kidnaped while Eggman was at large. I became friends with Sonic, was introduced into his life, and here I am today."

Calico could tell that there were deeper feelings than what he gave, but he decided not to ask. They remained in a silence, neither saying anything, until a certain energetic ferret appeared. "So, what're you guys talking about?" Garret asked, plopping himself down with them.

Calico only face palmed, letting his hand drip down his face, revealing the bags beneath his brown eyes. "Something that your loud mouth doesn't want to hear," he noted with malice seeping from his words.

"Ouch Calico," Garret spoke in mock hurt, "Rub salt on that wound, why don't you?"

"How does poison fancy that wound?"

"C'mon, Calico! Whatever happened to that bridge between us?"

"It was never there. I built a wall instead."

Tails rolled his eyes, seeing that this conversation was going nowhere good. He was about to stop their conversation when General Shaw walked up to the table and did that for him. "Making friends already, Prower?" He asked with a smile.

Tails looked back, seeing that their arguing had picked back up, and said, "I am, but these two apparently can't get along."

Conan massaged his temple as he gazed at the two. "They never did; their polar opposites." He explained to the Private while forcefully separating the two. "I think we can at least _try _to act more professional around our new recruit, don't you two?"

They nervously nodded, for fear of their superior, and quieted themselves. "So Tails, you're going to head to the training gym after this, right?" Calico asked, finishing his oatmeal and throwing it away all the while.

The kitsune in question grunted in the affirmative. "Yeah, I don't think I'm strong enough to be of much help."

"Well then, we're coming with you!" Calico decided. He gathered up the bowls and threw them in the nearest trash bin.

The trio were about to walk out the door when Garret tapped Calico on the shoulder. "Hey what's this _'we' _stuff? Maybe I don't _want _to go."

Calico remained silent and still for a moment, until he unexpectedly slapped Garret in the face. He then grabbed the scruff of Withers' vest and dragged him to the gym.

Tails sighed at his friends, himself, at the world itself.

May it ever be that friends along the journey road are ever true and faithful. For only true happiness is found where grace and love and truth abound. Good friends, with courage fire me, with learning inspire me to free the captive hidden deep within mine own breast. May friends at first be friends that last, that our great legacy might last, in the immortal bonds that change occurs with associations, offering to carry us from the past into a future that lasts, so may friends at first be friends that last to last beyond the mortal years to delicious dreams of prior years. May every tear now shed in toil and turmoil be replaced a hundred fold with tears of rejoicing with our friends and family in years ahead. May our friends on Earth become friends above the rest in a worthy cause for which to fight: may friends at first be friends that last. May friends at first be friends at last.


	2. Chapter 2

**Syaoron: Wow, this is actually comming along a lot quicker than I anticipated. Once we get into the further chapters, we'll see what happens then.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own anything Sega, Archie, or Sonic X.**

**Claimer: We own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the previously mentioned.**

* * *

It had been but a few days in the Astros Military Outpost, and Tails was still training strong. It was as though PFC Garret Withers hadn't left the training room when he went to retrieve some food for himself and his comrades.

Though he wasn't much into training, apparently his friends were. Tails was hard at work, bench-pressing weights of obscene size. In the back of the room was a smoking treadmill that the kit had recently overheated while running his fastest. As Withers approached with a plate of lasagna, he rolled his eyes at Tails. "I thought you said you needed training? You're pressing at least 300 pounds!" He commented; setting the fox's plate down so he could consume it later.

"300 pounds is nothing," Tails retorted indignantly while adding a couple more weights on either end, increasing it to 400. "Especially when you're fighting robots twice your size and weighing over a thousand pounds."

Garret tapped his fingers on the bench and shook his head. "Isn't it unhealthy for a kid to do all of this weight lifting?"

"No," was Tails' immediate reply, not deciding to trouble himself with the risks.

Garret then walked over to Calico, who was running on one of the operating treadmills. "Hey Calico, why do you think Tails works so hard?" he questioned the chipmunk. Calico continued to swing his arms forward with dumbbells in both hands as he ran in place.

"I'm not sure," Calico answered in uncertainty, he being confused as well. There weren't very many Mobians, even in the army, which could lift 300 pounds. One of these select few was Knuckles the Echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald, and he was said to be able to lift several hundred pounds, possibly even over a thousand… at least in rumor.

Calico then brought his attention to the fact that Tails had recently been in a very costly war with the Metarex. As he pondered this, he answered Garret, "I think it's because he has something he's truly fighting for."

"What do you mean by that?" Garret asked, whilst cocking his head to the side. "Don't we all have reasons for joining the military?"

"Yes, but those are all patriotic reasons," the chipmunk said. He looked back to the dashboard of his treadmill and turned the intensity down slightly so he could focus on explaining. "Most peoples' reasons are because they _'want to end the war' _or because it's _'for the country'_. Tails must have a deeper reason for making himself stronger; probably something personal."

He noted that the ferret was beginning to walk back to Tails and he grabbed Withers by his vest. "I swear, Garret. You better not ask him about it, or so help me…"

"Okay Calico, I won't ask him!" Garret admitted, putting his hands up in surrender.

"Gentlemen, are you still have problems containing yourselves?"

Turning their heads, the two arguers found themselves being addressed by General Shaw. After getting off of his treadmill, Calico saluted him and said, "No sir!"

After looking back and forth between the General and the Staff Sergeant, Garret put up a sloppy salute and followed with, "Yeah, what he said."

Shaw massaged his temple and redirected his attention over to the bench-pressing kit. "Prower, front and center!" he ordered. With that, Tails set his weights down on the rest and reported in front of General Shaw.

With a nod, Shaw continued, "Alright boys, you're heading out for your first mission."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

~ (_"No one can possibly know what is about to happen: it is happening, each time, for the first time, for the only time." –__**James Arthur Baldwin**_**) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 2**_

_**Case File…**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

… _Operation '.01563' has begun. Enemy is unaware of our presence, and the only documentation of our arrival is being kept in this journal. Proceeding with caution in the presence of hostile patrols._

_-Miles Prower_

…

In a distant compound, in its cold metal hallways, everything could be defined as _normal. _It was silent in all aspects, excluding the soft murmur of the air conditioning system. Silent, that is, until the clambering of metal against metal could be heard. Around the corner, small patrols of robots scanned the area, always on guard for any intruders.

These robots were very humanoid, though they had thin limbs to accompany a short torso. On each limb was a weapon, with the right limb using a small machine gun and the left limb occupying a small missile launcher.

The robot's patrolled without pause, with their scanners constantly active. One of the robots in the small patrol even observed an air duct, just in case. As it moved on, a figure within the duct breathed a soft sigh of relief.

"It almost caught us right there," Garret whispered. Even he knew when it was time to be serious. As the threat continued away from them, the ferret's hand left his hip holster.

He then continued to crawl through the duct, following in the wake of his two comrades. "This is one of the most uptight Eggman bases I've ever seen," Tails mused. He was leading the group with his expert eye sight and hearing. They rounded a corner of the duct and found that they were in a wider area where they could all momentarily relax.

Even as they did, Tails reached for his hip and pulled out a small radio. "King of spades, this is the Joker, do you copy?" He spoke softly into it; using the codenames he was given.

There was a short pause before the voice of General Shaw replied to him, "I copy Joker. Have you infiltrated the enemy stronghold?"

"Affirmative sir," Tails said. He looked toward his comrades and gave them a thumbs-up, which they confidently returned. "We're hiding out in the air ducts. What is the next objective?"

"You're next job is to hack into their database and download schematics of the robots," Shaw ordered him, reading a list of objectives on a notepad. "I'll upload the location of the database to your visor; keep me posted."

With that Tails, shut the radio off and muttered to his comrades, "Visors on, now."

Without hesitation, the three lowered black helmets onto their head, with holes for their ears to poke through. Tails clicked a button on the side of his helmet and the visor turned on, allowing him to see outside once more. He then clicked another button and a map of the area appeared, with one area being specifically highlighted in vivid green.

"Alright guys," He spoke, addressing his teammates, "We're supposed to be extracting information from the database located in this room. Follow me."

While it took some time, with pausing every now and then for the passing patrol, they finally made it to the room. As they watched two robots operating the advanced computers, Tails reached for his FÉG PA-63 and screwed a silencer into the barrel; his comrades did the same with their pistols. "Take 'em out." Tails ordered after dismantling the grate under the duct, allowing them to jump into the room and shoot the robots with customized static rounds, which rendered the bots incapable of operating.

"Calico, I need you to hack into that computer and search for schematics of the robots." The kit continued ordering while he opened the panel of one of the bots.

"Roger," the chipmunk answered. He began typing away at a nearby computer, leaving Garret to take guard at the room's entrance.

Calico searched through the computer after hacking into the system, browsing constantly through hundreds of files in an instant by filtering with the tool bar. When he'd found the proper files, he reached for a cable that looped through a compartment in his helmet and began downloading the files. Schematics and blueprints were shown on his visor as the files were imported into his helmet.

Once everything was taken, he shut the computer down and looked toward Tails to see that he was screwing a plate back over a robot's inner workings. "What are you doing, Tails?"

The kit looked up and saw his friend, confused at what he'd been doing. "I just rewired these robots to appear online," He explained. "The security operates in segments and patrols have a list of robots in their sector. When one of the robots is brought off-line out of schedule, they come in to investigate. For a stealth mission, I need to make it so these bots appear online."

Calico nodded and tapped Garret on the shoulder, causing him to turn around. The Staff Sergeant then pointed upward, signifying for them to return to the ducts.

When they were finally situated in the ducts, Tails radioed in to General Shaw, "King of spades, we have the 'Straight' and are awaiting further instructions."

"Good Joker," Shaw answered, "Have them sent to me."

"They're on their way," Tails affirmed, nodding to Calico. The chipmunk then entered a few commands into his helmet and the files were sent.

After a short pause, Shaw continued, "Excellent work, Joker. You're final objective is sabotage. I want you to locate the bases power generator and destroy it. I'm sending you into a heavily guarded area, so be on your toes."

With a grunt of confirmation, Tails shut the radio off and wired it to be off-line until it was repaired. They didn't need any snags in their operation. "Alright, you heard the man. Let's move."

Without further ado, they jumped out of the ventilation chamber and into the halls, with only their visor map to guide them. They reached onto their backs and each of the unslung an FN P90, suppressor already attached. Creeping down the hallway, the trio of intruders checked carefully around every corner. Even the slightest mishap could throw the entire mission off, and that was unacceptable.

As they neared the location, Tails put his back to a wall adjacent to the door, as did Calico and Garret. As the kit nodded, he received two more nods from his comrades, giving him the okay. The ferret planted a breaching charge on the door and got back in position.

With the charge's explosion and a crater in the door, the trio burst in through the opening and opened fire on all of the maintenance bots in the area. When were put out of commission, they observed the large generator in front of them. Static fluttered around the glass chamber, all directed around a single object in the center.

"What's a Chaos Emerald doing here?" Garret pondered aloud, examining the unearthly jewel that was placed before them. In all of his life, he'd never seen such a spectacle, and it was his first time being in the presence of one.

"It's powering the generator," Tails said as he further studied the crystalline object. "Removing it from the generator will cause a chain reaction, leading to a meltdown." However, while he continued to gaze at it, he shook his head. "This is too easy."

"What do you mean by that?" Calico asked, keeping his gun trained on the door at all times. "We have to make a move before the next patrol comes."

Tails shook his head as he stared at the box. "I don't know, maybe it's all in my head," he mumbled as he punched through the glass and retrieved the emerald. It didn't even take a second for the alarm to go off.

Lights on the ceiling blared red as they began to run down the halls in an attempt to escape with the emerald in their possession. "Hey Tails," Garret called to the fox while they ran.

"Yes?"

"I don't think it was in your head."

Tails sighed as the ferret said that, "Yeah, thanks for the update." As they rounded a corner, coming upon a patrol with their guns primed for battle, the trio let loose a burst of static bullets that took them out of commission. Tails found his gun to be expended of ammo, so he slipped the magazine off of the top and popped in a fresh fifty rounds.

Calico then took it upon himself to take a grenade from his belt and prime it. After counting three seconds, he threw the explosive around a corner, catching a couple of the robots off guard as they exploded into shrapnel.

They then took off around the corner, expecting the hall to be void of enemy contacts. How wrong they were.

Unprepared, they found themselves confronted by five of the bots, which unleashed a volley of fire. Tails remained fairly unharmed save a few minor scathes, thanks to their poor aim, except for the fact that his P90 was utterly destroyed. He noticed also that Calico received a bullet to his right arm and leg while Garret didn't get any injuries as well.

The fox cursed under his breath as he reached for his side arm and took the robots out with expert aim. After they were subjugated, he looked to his side and found Calico on the ground, with a small pool of blood beginning to form beneath him. "Can you still walk Calico?" he asked.

The chipmunk attempted to stand, but only slipped and fell. "I'm sorry Tails, but I can't do much with this wound on my leg," he admitted shamefully. "Just leave me! Save yourselves and…"

He was cut off from his ranting as Tails hefted him over his shoulder. "You better thank your lucky stars that I can lift 400 pounds Calico, or I really _might have _just left you there."

"Really Tails?" Garret intervened, seeming disappointed. "Can't we just leave him?"

For this, Garret received a slap to the face and an apathetic glare. "No, I'm not leaving anyone behind," he firmly denied the PFC. "I've lost more than enough people in one life; I don't need to lose anymore."

With that said, Tails continued onward, with Garret at his heels and Calico over his shoulder. His pistol was held forward, just in case they ran into any unexpected guests. They could see their avenue of escape; a large door with a number pad by it, for security purposes. "Why do they have a lock on the inside of their base?" Tails groaned, setting down Calico's body so he could bypass the security.

Before doing so, he had Calico poise himself in a position where he could fire at any incoming robots. He then handed his radio to Garret, after rewiring it to work, and told him to call into command.

As Tails ripped the entire pad from the wall, he heard Garret yelling into the radio, "We're going to need some kind of evacuation, we're in trouble… What? ETA is in ten minutes? That's too long, we're getting over run!"

Tails sighed, and he began to hear Calico's gun firing, decimating whatever robots were coming their way. With the pressure on him once more, Tails sweated, trying to reconfigure the system and let them through, but with no luck. All of a sudden, he felt several ripping pains in his left shoulder and winced, clutching the bullet wounds in it.

"Garret, stop arguing and start firing!" Tails shouted to the ferret, who was still arguing over the radio. With a nod, Garret shut the radio off and pulled out his P90 to barrage the assaulting robots.

The kitsune, having released his arm to work on the pad, finally snatched two wires and pieced them together, opening the doors. "Let's go guys, let's go!" Tails repeated, sounding very worried. With one hand he dragged Calico out the door, allowing him to lay down suppressing fire on the robots. With the other hand, he held his pistol and continued to fire at them.

"Garret, how much longer?" Tails shouted to the ferret, who peered at his watch to check the time.

"We still have about five minutes!" He replied. He wasn't sure if five minutes would be quick enough, but he continued to lay down fire on the robots.

"Five minutes?" the fox replied in surprise. "If we're going to hold out for even _one _more minute, were going to need some cover!"

Tails looked around, and as if it were gifted to him by God, a large crane was located near them. It may have been used to move supplies, but Tails didn't care for that as he threw a grenade at the structure. The results were shown as the entire structure collapsed in front of them, allowing them to hide behind the metal.

The edges of Tails' eyes were rimmed with black as he struggled to stay awake. Fighting with bullets in your shoulder didn't hold for the most pleasuring experience after all. As he aimed down the sights of his pistol, firing off the static rounds, he noticed that one of the robots was priming its missile launcher. In a desperate move, Tails shot down the robot… but not before it could fire the rocket at them.

Garret, seeing the rocket coming at them, decided to move back a bit, as did everyone else. Luckily, the missile only hit their cover, but pieces of it were still blown of, and one piece of shrapnel embedded itself in Tails' left arm.

He squinted and immediately tore the metal from his arm to stop a possible infection, causing him to start bleeding more profusely. He growled, wanting nothing more than to tear those robots apart. The sounds of helicopter blades stopped him, however.

Behind them, he could see Kamile, the cat from the entrance guard, piloting a V-22 Osprey while two other armored Mobians were using the machine guns to tear away at the robot forces. "Hey, need a lift?" Kamile's voice sounded through their radio, and Tails looked up in relief.

As the trio heaved themselves onto the ship, the bay doors were retracted, preventing gun fire from penetrating the armored hybrid aerial vehicle. "Well boys, you look horrible!" one of the gunners remarked, taking note of the wounds that covered their bodies.

Only Garret escaped from the mission unscathed, and all he had to say was, "What about me? I don't look horrible, do I?"

"You always looked horrible, Garret." Calico muttered as he tried to put pressure on his wounds. When Tails saw this, he reached into his bag and pulled out a few pieces of spare cloth and began raping up their injuries.

"Why do you keep cloth in your bag, Tails?" Calico asked, pondering the other contents of the bag as well.

The kit only laughed. "It's standard medical supplies."

"Oh, so now you're a medic?"

Tails sighed, "Not really, I just take necessary precautions to ensure the survival of my friends."

Calico would've asked about it, but he saw deeper. He figured that he was down because he couldn't keep Cosmo alive, and was undergoing some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. He was _'shell shocked'_ so to speak. He also was under and intense amount of a burdened conscience. His heart was breaking under the suffering which only a combination of grief and guilt can press.

Calico, feeling for his friend asked, "Do you want to talk about it Tails?"

"No." Tails swiftly replied. Though he was opening up to these strange friends, he didn't want to completely reveal his emotions… it would've been a weakness.

They didn't speak for the remainder of the way back to base.


	3. Chapter 3

**Syaoron: Alright, another chapter already! For the record, the introductory of this chapter was written by sirwilliamblackstone, while I wrote the remaining piece (with moderation from sirwilliamblackstone).**

**Disclaimer: We don't claim or own anything from Sega or Sonic X.**

**Claimer: We own this plot, and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.**

* * *

This room–so dark, cold, and sterile–reflected its owner: evil, calculating, and scientific as he was. The room almost stole the breath out of you as you entered. The enterer now however, was used to such places and personalities: it suited him like the suit he wore, the people he bored, and the offices his name bore.

That fine black suit and the man who it wore walked inside, abiding just within the confines of the door. The room was dark, and for all but a shadow, it seemed empty. The man stayed silent, not wanting to say anything that might make him seem weak, as was the apparent gimmick his host was trying to pull off.

At once the door closed, and darkness won the fight for truth or lies as the light receded from view. Yes it was dark, dark and quiet when a German accented voice spoke up. "Hello my bourgeois friend; and what brings you here?"

This was replied to by the guest, a silky stuffed shirt, "Eggman, I have a plan by which you may profit greatly."

"Oh really, how so?" The Egg asked suspiciously.

"By seizing control of the entire Mobian money supply." The suit answered surreptitiously.

"And how do you plan do that?"

"How do you plan to conquer Mobius?"

"By building better robots to destroy Mobius."

"What if Mobius could destroy itself?"

"Hmmm... this sounds like a scam, I've seen many in my day. I even joined Amway once, so I know these things; you're trying to play rhetorical tricks with my mind. You're a sharp salesman whose been taught well, but this really isn't for me."

If world domination were possible, wouldn't you be interested?"

"I'm not interested, so go away."

"But why don't you become ruler over Mobius?"

"You're just trying to make money off of me."

"Yes, I am. But does that mean that you can't get what you want?"

The doctor was amazed by his candid admission of self-interest. 'Clearly this man is not confused about himself', Eggman thought, 'so I guess I'll give him a chance.'

Eggman flatly asked, "What do you propose?"

[MARRIAGE! Just kidding].

The uniform paused before answering, providing dramatic affect; then said, "To take control over people's choices. Do you know what money is doctor?"

"Of course; money connects things being traded. I might sell an invention of mine and make money; I could then take that money and buy some scrap metal. What I did is exchanged my invention for the metal by trading money. The money itself is just a way of trading what we really want."

"Correct; and because money is a huge area of people's choices, what do you suppose happens if you take control of their money?"

"Why, you could bring them to their knees!" Eggman gleefully announced. "You would control people's major source of amusement; their major source of fear and stress. You could remove the roofs over their heads, and even starve them to the point of anarchy."

"That's what I mean by taking control of people's choices. It's the best business I'll ever do: if we can control Mobius' wealth then I care not what puppet is placed on the throne or in parliament: if I can control a nation's purse, I care not who makes its laws."

"But will you pleeease tell me the details?" Eggman pouted pleadingly. "I'm dying to know exactly how to get this power!"

"Then let's go to somewhere more comfortable than this room, I have a lot of explaining to do."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"__Why ____it's the best business I've ever done__**. **____If I can control a nation's wealth__, I care not who makes ____its__ laws.__" –_**Nathan Rothschild, ****a banker who temporarily took control over Britain's money supply.****) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 3**_

_**The Equality of War**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

A funny thing, war is. Some may think that, at its soul, it is something big and complicated, but war is essentially one thing. It is simply a violent feud between one or more sovereignties. Neither side being a representation of good or evil in totality; for in war itself there is only power, strategy, and the state. Whether one side is good or evil, it will not matter in the end, for it did not stop them in the first, and history will seldom be written by the losers.

In war, both sides are equal in their bias. But what the most important goal may be on one side could be something completely different on the other side. No one side's cause is just in ruining the lives of others… then again, it didn't matter for the Mobian military in this case. They weren't spitting bullets into militants; they were fighting robots, and doing it in pure self-preservation.

When the time came for battle, two powers were put to the test in a battle of wit, determination, and strength. For some, it mattered who had the biggest stick in the ballpark, and for others, it was how you swung that stick that determined your ability. And some tricked around with the ball itself rather than the stick, playing their enemies into dangerous traps. However, it will all be in vain for one of the two.

At the end of the day, when all is done, history will be written by the victor. It will not matter what the other side fought for, whether the cause be noble or malicious. No, it will not matter when they all are dead. The winners will have their austere history written down for all their people and posterity to remember. Their citizens will be quick to remember their victory and how great it was for all of time, but as is the custom, they will remain blissfully unaware of what the opposing nation fought for, or the real reasons behind their rulers war filled directions.

Today would be one of these days; a day where history was in the making.

"Go, go, go!"

Over rugged hills and through clouds of dust that hung in the air, an entire army charged. These Mobians were facing their largest scale war to date, with Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik launching his heaviest offensive in years. Both sides suffered losses as robots and Mobians alike laid down fire on each other. While processors, silicon, and metal were torn from robots, Mobians' lives were ended in clouds and puddles of flesh with blood.

Down in a previously dug out trench, Sonic the hedgehog observed the war, waiting for the opportune time to strike. If he was too early, he could endanger himself; too late, and he would endanger the army. It was a difficult tightrope to walk. He watched as the mechanic beasts were felled by their allies as their own forces were also whittled away. "Well Knuckles, it was nice knowing you." He spoke to a nearby red echidna.

The red echidna only grunted and shook his head, disapproving of the statement. "What makes you think we're going down that easily?" he taunted his friend. The echidna Knuckles is the fabled guardian of the Master Emerald, with unmatched strength and close-quarters combat aptitude. On this hapless occasion, he was forced to leave the Master Emerald in the hands of another and come down to fight in the war. "C'mon, do you really doubt our own abilities that much?"

The blue hedgehog chuckled. With Knuckles being a very braggart soldier, it was easy for him to see why he would make such a remark. "That's not what I said," Sonic corrected him, keeping his eyes trained on the battle. From afar, on the opposite side of the battle field, he could see a small light being flashed, and he smirked confidently. "Ready to go, knucklehead?"

"Do you even have to ask?" the confident echidna spoke, as he and Sonic jumped up from the trench and charged into battle. With his signature spin-dash, the hedgehog tore through dozens of the bots in seconds with his insane speed. While no one knew how he'd acquired such speed, it wasn't questioned when Sonic put that speed to work for attack.

With a loud war cry, Knuckles smashed his fist into the ground near a group of robots. Before the machines could comprehend the move, the ground erupted into an earthquake and stalagmites shot up from below and destroyed several of the bots. Then, with the same quickness, Knuckles immediately dodged to the side, avoiding a volley of fire.

From across the field, where their signal had been sent from, a black and red streak zoomed through the field, leaving destruction in its path. As the streak slid to a halt, it revealed itself to be a black hedgehog with red streaks traveling down his spines. "Shadow, I'm glad you could make it!" Sonic yelled to the hedgehog while skidding to a stop nearby.

Though saying nothing, Shadow nodded to the blue speed demon and pulled two Tactical Machine Pistols from his spines. After clipping in the thirty round magazines for his TMPs, he began to run amok in the crowd of robots while receiving suppressing fire from the Mobian military. With his hover shoes, he easily glided over the field as he completed several spinning motions, spraying lead at the robots with utmost accuracy.

"And to believe, I'm just getting warmed up," Shadow mused as he clipped in two fresh clips. He then jumped into the air and began twirling around, blasting bullets from the barrels of his machine pistols into the unprepared enemy. With the robots below destroyed, Shadow landed just as gracefully as he'd bounded up.

However, with the robots soon beginning to swarm over the three war heroes, they gathered themselves in a tight circle, keeping all their eyes on the bots as they raised their guns to them. "I never thought it would end like this," Shadow muttered. He knew that even the three of them couldn't solely fend off an entire army of hundreds.

"End like how, Shadow?" Sonic mused, trying to keep the situation as light as possible. "Surrounded by mechanic enemies and friends whose guts you hate?"

Shadow shrugged as he aimed his machine pistols back at the robots and continued firing. "No, I expected to die like that. I just always imagined that I wouldn't be surrounded by idiots."

"Well, we can save the banter for when we get out of this mess," Knuckles concurred, with the robots beginning to close in. Survival seemed most bleak for them, and they were clinging onto whatever hope they had left.

Suddenly, they heard the shrieking sound of fighter jets rushing overhead, and huge explosion began erupting in the army of robots. Sonic looked up, noting that the jets were firing missiles at the ground forces, and he raised a thumbs-up sign to the skies.

Without a moment to lose, the Mobian military came rushing over the hills, with their guns blazing and the robots scattering in response. Bullets soared across the battlefield and into fleeing robots, putting down most of the enemy forces, while some escaped over the hills.

With huzzahs and shouts of victory, it would be another day of history won for the Mobians. Sonic ran down the hill and to one of the soldiers who had a gold leaf sewn on his left soldier. Even though the brown bear was a Major, and the commanding officer of all the forces that were currently on the field, he still held fast and saluted the blue hedgehog that stood in front of him.

"You guys came in at the most perfect time!" Sonic commended him. "If you waited any longer, Shadow, Knuckles, and myself would all be stuff full of lead."

"That's high praise, coming from you, Sonic." The Major thanked him with a nod. "Eggman's forces seemed to have retreated behind the hills. Should we advance our assault?"

Sonic pondered that thought. To advance or hold their ground; it was a tricky decision. "Knowing Eggman, he'll probably have some kind of ambush waiting for us." Sonic foretold, thinking of all his previous encounters with the megalomaniacal scientist. "I think we should send Shadow with a small regiment of snipers to the hilltops to investigate before sending in any further assault."

The Major nodded and pulled a small radio from his belt and spoke into it, "Shadow, round up a few of the snipers and take them to the top of the hill. See if you can identify any enemy activity."

From afar, Shadow nodded to the Major and began to pick out a few operatives before he and four others disappeared over the hill. Meanwhile, The Major, Sonic, and Knuckles continued their conversation.

"This is the largest assault I've seen from Eggman yet," Knuckles remarked, looking about the fields and seeing them littered with the carcasses of Mobians and robots, all joined in death or deactivation.

"Don't you find it odd that he would do something so spontaneous, though?" The Major pointed out. "I mean, one does not just send a battalion of robots at a random time to take over the world. I think something's fishy."

At that moment, Sonic stowed the fish and chips lunch he'd brought for the field in a small box. He received a glare from Knuckles while the Major shook his head. "I'm not sure guys," Sonic muttered. He too was confused as to why Eggman would want this war. "Whatever his reasons are, they can't be good. We should keep on our toes for any big plans he might have."

Knuckles was about to comment on Eggman's whereabouts when the Major's radio began transmitting static. When the static had cleared, Shadow's voice came over the frequency, "Major, are you there? We've got something big headed our way."

They could all hear the concern in Shadow's voice, and that was bad. Shadow was never concerned about anything. "What kind of big are we talking, Shadow?" the brown bear Major replied.

"Bring the army over the hill," Shadow directed, "I'm talking… _really _big."

The Major shouted to his army, rallying up the remaining troops as they all traversed to the crest of the hill. Sonic and Knuckles could feel vibrations in the earth as they traveled, like miniature earthquakes. What they saw made their hill look like a mound.

An enormous insect-like robot with six three limbs, upon which were several missile silos. The torso was lined with several machine guns and the end of the torso extended into a structure, upon which was propped a wide head with a red, circular, dimly glowing area.

"Mother of pearl…" the Major muttered while looking up at the behemoth machine in disbelief. Something that colossal was unbelievable!

Sonic was used to the big robots though, having faced a few in his previous adventures. Still, this one towered over all the others. "Soldiers, fire at will!" the blue hedgehog then shouted, giving the okay for every possible bullet to be fired at the machine.

However, even with their army of hundreds, thousands of bullets in minutes did nothing but notify the machine of their presence. The end of the machine with the glowing red spot turned toward them, and the red area began to glow more fiercely.

Sonic saw the spot and gasped. "Everybody, scatter!" He shouted. Though there was mild confusion, many of the militants were able to escape the line of fire. Those who didn't were immediately incinerated by the machine's laser.

"Sir, what about formation?" A nearby soldier shouted to the hedgehog.

Sonic shook his head and waved toward the colossal robot. "Forget formation, soldier! Just attack that thing at the joints!" He ordered while dashing away, with Knuckle and Shadow following soon after.

"How're we going to stop that thing Sonic?" Knuckles shouted as they ran at the robot, dodging the path of bullets and missiles. "I mean, it's huge!"

Shadow was forced to dodge to the side of an explosion as he continued the conversation. "I'm actually wondering the same thing. You got a plan, Sonic?"

The hedgehog nodded as looked toward the torso, realizing that it had an inner chamber. "What say we all rush onto the torso?" He suggested. Without further discussion, the trio ran up the leg of the enormous robot, whereas in Knuckles' case, he climbed up the legs.

"This robot has to have some kind of power source to keep it running," Sonic explained as he surveyed the outside of the torso for an entry point. "All we have to do is find the source and destroy it." Sonic then pointed to a small hatch over on the other side of the body, and they all clambered down inside of it.

Around them looped several wires and pieces of monitoring equipment that were probably fed into the detecting equipment from outside of the machine. As Sonic marveled at it all, Shadow was forced to drag the admiring hedgehog along. "Sonic, the more time we send here, the more lives that will be spent."

"I know," Sonic sighed as he reveled in the situation. "I just wish Tails was here to see all of this. He'd probably be in paradise, even in the middle of this war."

As they continued their search for the core, Knuckles asked, "Whatever happened to the kid anyway? Where'd he go?"

"He sent me a letter a couple days ago," Sonic explained. "He went to the Astros Military Outpost for training. He won't be back for a while." As he thought about the letter, he remembered the tears that smudged the kits signature and his torn self began to tear up.

Turning a corner, into another corridor, they spotted a small chamber that held a small golden orb. Shadow could feel heat emanating from it and could only determine it as one thing. "Nuclear fusion," the black hedgehog muttered under his breath. "He created sustainable nuclear fusion."

Without a moment to lose, Shadow then took out his guns and shot into the orb, disrupting the fusion and causing lights to blink as well as an alarm. "Looks like you did it, Shadow!" Sonic congratulated him. "Now get us out of here, before the entire thing explodes with us inside of it!"

With a nod, the Ultimate Life Form took out his green Chaos Emerald and spoke the words, "Chaos control!" causing the trio to vanish in a blip of light.

They reappeared back with the troops as they watched the gigantic robot crumble to the ground before flaring up in a violent explosion. Cheers could be heard from militants as they watched the bot tear itself to shreds.

All the cheering stopped when they looked beyond the insect-like robot and into the horizon and saw more behemoths just like it approaching.

"Command, we're going to need reinforcements and airstrikes at the ready," the brown bear Major spoke into his radio.

As the bear updated Command on their new threat, Sonic just looked on and sighed. It would surely be a long battle to fight, and it would take many months, possibly years. Many lives would be lost to the savagery of Eggman's machination, and the lives of people would be endangered until the end.

At that moment, the blue hedgehog only had one though going through his mind… _Where are you, Tails?_


	4. Chapter 4

**Blackstone: Hey dear readers, this chapter is very depressing just to warn you. Thanks for reading! Don't forget to review, because if you do, the Review Fairy will come and leave a dollar bill under your pillow tonight!**

_**Syaoron: Viewers, this chapter was written entirely by Blackstone. Hooray, Blackstone!**_

**Disclaimer: We don't claim or own anything from Sega, Archie, or Sonic X**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot, and all characters no affiliated wth the above mentioned.**

* * *

The office of the General was generally plain. It was totally grey, why its walls were grey, the ceiling was gray, even the carpet on the floor was gray. The jet black falcon sat with behind his desk, which was also painted grey.

General Shaw was enjoying his coffee this morning, more than most days. Why was he enjoying it so much? Well he was holding a file in his hand, a file on Miles Prower. He was pleased to say the least with the young kit's performance. He had done so much for them; Prower was loyal to the military and to his duties, while General Shaw in turn was loyal to the kit. He made sure that he had received the best instruction available, the best equipment, and the best missions.

He wondered how long Tails would have left being able to continue doing combat missions. 'Perhaps he would even be able to serve in that capacity until he reached thirty years old?' The old General mused. 'After that he'll be able to serve in as a great tactician perhaps, or maybe a-'

The General heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he called. His personal secretary came rushing in to his office, and immediately spoiled his morning.

"Sir," the secretary said, "Prower is leaving!"

"WHAT?" General Shaw yelled. He had spilled his hot coffee all over himself, but didn't seem to care, so alarmed was he.

"I said sir that Miles Prower is leaving, heading back to home."

"But why, why would he leave?"

"Apparently," the messenger continued, "Calico told him about the fact that his friends are fighting this war against Eggman too, and he wants go back and help them."

"That Calico, I'll kill him! But not before I kill Tails for trying to leave, which he won't do because I won't let him!"

"It may be too late for that already sir; Prower is leaving in quite a hurry, and might have already left!"

Getting up from his chair, still stained with coffee, the austere General rushed out the room.

"Cursed, why can't I be skinnier?" said the General, his secretary in tow. He had grown somewhat fat in the last five years since Tails arrival, and now he was strongly feeling the effects.

The General had felt somewhat guilty about keeping Tails in the dark about the war with Eggman. True, he had his reasons, but he still didn't like not being open with the kit. The war had started five years ago, only a week after Tails arrival at the camp. If Miles had known of that fact, General Shaw knew he would escape the base to go help his friends fight. He had seen the kit's journal early on; he knew how much he worried about his friends.

'Most likely,' he thought, 'no one will try to stop him from escaping. Everyone's loyal to Prower. The only reason no one had told him the secret until now was because of fear of reprisal.'

The chubby General burst through the door to the hanger. There was a group of thirty people gathered around to see Tails off. They all turned their eyes to look at the General for a moment, and then turned their attention back to Tails who was taking off in a plane he had built in his spare time. The plane lifted off the ground vertically like a harrier. Before Tails departed, the General could swear that inside the cockpit, the fox had given him first a salute, and then a friendly wave goodbye.

Tails had left, and he had left on terms friendly with everyone. And to his credit he had never lost a single friend, nor had he ever left a fellow soldier behind.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"'Monseigneur, do not go. In the name of Heaven! You are risking your life.' 'Monsieur Mayor,' said the bishop, 'that is just it. I am not in this world to care for my life, but for souls.'" –_ **Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 4**_

_**A Broken Heart, an Awoken Fear, and Fractured Friendships**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Sonic looked exhaustedly over the battlefield with the hopelessness of weariness. The view was bleak; the hilly field was devoid of all vegetation, having been burned down long ago. The smoke and ash hung strongly in the air with all the fierce veracity of a High Park blaze. The heavens mourned with thunderous groans the loss of the natural state of the world and its creatures.

Heavenly tears started dripping down from the sky, yet Sonic did not care. What did rain really matter at this point? It was just a few drops on his body, nothing more.

Amy walked up to him, putting a warm hand on his cold shoulder, "We should get inside Sonic; it's starting to rain."

"You should return to the tent; I'll be along in a minute." Sonic answered.

Comfortingly, Amy softly uttered, "It's really not healthy to be out here alone, especially since you can catch a cold."

"It doesn't matter," said sad Sonic, "it doesn't matter now what happens, in the long run we're all dead anyway. Probably Tails too."

Amy cupped Sonic's cheeks in her hands and brought his forehead against hers. She stared deeply, intently into her love's eyes and told him, "Sonic listen to me, it may not matter now what happens to us, but what we do with right now will matter to others, even if we _were_ to die tomorrow. It doesn't matter what happens, we will never surrender the fight, so long as the voice of conscience inside all of us drives us to do that which is right, _it_ doesn't matter, _we_ will matter!

"You know Sonic, a life lived without love and its accompanying responsibilities is hollow; someone who lives such a life soon decays in spirit, feeling less emotion as time flies by, especially good emotions. If you cannot live for yourself, or if that isn't working out, try living for others. That's why it's good that I love you my Sonikuu!"

"Thanks Amy, that makes me feel better," replied Sonic, who didn't exactly sound changed in any way. "Still, if it's so good to love others, and I love Tails, than the fact that he's probably dead by now after five years in the military just adds tragedy to this whole STINKING PILE OF CRAP WE CALL LIFE!" Sonic yelled the last bit at the gently crying sky.

Amy's eyes reflected the clouds in the depressing mystery of Tails fate. Finally she spoke, "In life, we choose not between darkness and light, but either truth or the appeasement of ease. We should not give in to doing what is easy. Nothing works out, you work it out. We should hope that Tails is still alive, however unlikely that is, but we should also do what Tails would want us to do if he were here with us.

"Besides," she whispered gulped back her tears, "Tails gave up…" her voice cracked but she shakily continued, "Tails gave up not only his friend, but his true love. Every time I think of quitting, I think of her smile with his, and…" she broke down, "we can't quit… We can't!"

She stood there in the cold hard rain, thinking of the cold hard truth with all her soul. And so she cried out her soul, with a now sympathetic Sonic rubbing her back with one hand, while his other hand was lying helplessly at his side. All he could do in this hopeless situation was rub the back of one girl out in the middle of a deserted battlefield. It wasn't much, but it was all he could do, and the heroic aspiration inside of him drove him to do what was presently in his power, with no setting aside what could be done today. He did what he could in the moment in order that he might bring about some small change today to create the tomorrow he sought.

"_**Be the change you wish to see in the world.**_**" –Gandhi.**

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Tails was sitting uncomfortably in his comfortable chair, thinking out the possibilities of what had happened to his friends from long ago. 'How could I have left them? What was I thinking?' the kitsune despaired. He heard an inner voice taunt him with self-doubt, 'that's the point Tails, you weren't thinking.'

Tails was fourteen years old now. He was ripped beyond belief. He did not look like a body builder because his muscles were extremely compact, much like Sonics or Knuckles. Nevertheless, he did look to be in tip top physical shape.

Tails thought about each one of his friends, and the possibility that one of them had died. He thought of Sonic being shot up by one of Eggman's robots, and shuddered. He thought next of Amy lying dead in Sonic's arms in a pool of blood, with the hero of Mobius weeping over her. Tears formed in his eyes. He imagined Knuckles, that tough picture of manly strength, having his legs bloodily blown off by a landmine. His stomach churned. Then… no, he couldn't picture it! But his mind brought up the image anyway. The tears poured forth from his eyes. "Cream, gentle Cream," Tails sadly said. I shall not describe the image he imagined; it is so horrible as to be beyond description.

Tails wept and wept for quite a while; it was a strange while to while away the time, nevertheless, he could not stop himself. He was in the depths of despair. "Is this what life is like?" He asked himself, "Or is there just something wrong with me?"

"If something had happened to Cream, then what would've become of Cosmo's plant?" He felt like he had just been stabbed in the heart. It was as if he had killed her all over again.

"What gave me the right to leave my friends? Isn't that where my duty lies, to the family I call friends? They're the only family I have! But then what gave the right for Cosmo to leave her friends? Dammit Cosmo! Why did you have to do that? Why did you leave me? What gives you the right when I need you so much?"

His heart cracked in a new place. "I'm sorry Cosmo; I shouldn't curse your memory. I'm not even worthy to speak your name, or talk about you in any other way than in reverential awe. It was you who saved the galaxy; it was you who saved us all. I just wish I could join you!"

'I've lost everything: my companions, my life, my soul. Who am I?' He not only felt lost, but he was lost; and he was too lost to know how to escape the labyrinth he was in. He was too confused and distracted to even know what this labyrinth was.

"Wait, what if I _could_ join you?"

Tails spent a couple minutes in complete wreck, in complete devastation, contemplating means of to end his mortal life. He looked around for some easy and quick way to escape this world; but then he thought, 'no, I must stay alive to make sure my friends are alive. They deserve life, even if I do not.' And that idea gave him just enough of the light of hope to keep on going.

'I wonder how they've all changed? I mean, it's been five years. I wonder how they'll look at me for leaving them, for betraying them in exchange for training for all these years? And I did this in their time of need as well. I wonder if the citizens of Mobius will call me Judas, or some other insulting name for abandoning them? Ah, it doesn't matter.'

'Still, I do wonder how my old friends have changed. Knuckles, well he would be about 21. He'd probably be stronger than ever, so he'd be a formidable fighter by now if he's still alive.

'Sonic, he'd be 20. I wonder if Amy's made any progress with him? Maybe she's just given up after all this time? Nah, I doubt it, she's a determined girl; Amy always gets her way eventually. Still, even if they were an official couple, Amy would only be 17, still a few years too young to get married.

'Cream would be twelve by now; right around the age of puberty. She'll probably become a very beautiful girl.' Tails sighed, 'Too bad I can't love again. I can never stop loving Cosmo; she'll live in my heart forever. I can't get over her. Maybe that's my problem; I'm just living without love in my life.'

Tails ruminated over this possibility for a few minutes. 'But my heart is still too broken from losing Cosmo. I can't love again, so I guess I'm destined to live my life like one of Eggman's many robots: a soulless corpse… I still function, but I lack that spark of life that makes a person a person.'

'Personally I would rather be dead than live in a limbo, with life, yet without the solace of a soul. The solace of caring, of hoping, of having a colorful range of emotions at all! Instead, I have the simple solitude of a silence of feeling; a dull, grey, hollowed out soul.'

As Tails' plane flew on, his brain flew on, and his heart flew on. Ever moving to the future while ever living in the past, he wasn't going anywhere fast. Something would need to change this deadly pattern of behavior, for it wouldn't get him anywhere. Emotional sickness is a sickness just like a physical illness; our nature is not the cause, it is rather the symptom; it is not who we are, it is merely one of many possible roads which we may choose to take. In this we may take refuge in our hearts, in this we may take hope, in this we may take our future, grip it and grasp it, for it is in our hands: our control.


	5. Chapter 5

**Syaoron: Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for... chapter 5! We hope that this chapter is adaquate, and more chapters will soon be on their way.**

**Disclaimer: We neither claim nor own anything from Archie, Sega, or Sonic X.**

**Claimer: We own this plot and characters that aren't affiliated with the above mentioned.**

* * *

Five years of weariness bore down on a blue hedgehog as rain poured down on their encampment. As he took the watch, with only a simple rain coat to protect him from the elements, he reminisced about their coming in the war. In an attempt to remain optimistic, he imagined that they were winning because Eggman had more casualties than them, even with his giant insect robots, which the combatants had dubbed 'Scarabs'.

However, this was no way to constitute a battle against robots. All Eggman had to do was make more and more robots, whereas the Mobian army was fighting for survival. While Eggman has an unlimited supply of robots, they only had so many Mobians to combat them with.

It was for this problem that he came to a conclusion. They would need to find Eggman's real base and completely destroy it, wiping out the source of the robots rather than the bots themselves. He was still brought to the impasse of the fact that they hadn't the knowledge of where.

Eggman had been hiding behind his curtain of scrap metal for the entirety of this drudging war, and had never left the safety of his confined base… or bases. That brought to light a second problem. The megalomaniacal scientist could have any number of bases, and any number of those could be producing robots.

What they needed was some kind of reconnaissance to find one of the bases, and they'd need to send in a large strike force to take it out, but not so large as to hinder the open fielded forces. It would be a difficult balance to make… but even then, they still didn't have the proper information to make such a tactical strike.

"Sonic, we've got some news you might want to hear."

The blue hedgehog swiftly turned to be met with a black being of the same race, with red streaks going down his spines. "Recent UAV surveillance has discovered a location that fits the bill for an Eggman base." Shadow reported to the Sonic, causing his eyes to bulge in surprise.

He was completely astonished that they had already found a base! 'You know what they say; ask and you shall receive,' the hedgehog thought as he nodded to Shadow. "Well then, I'll need you to round up a task force of about thirty men for me to take in," Sonic ordered.

"What, you don't want Knuckles and I to help you?" Shadow suggested; a thought to which Sonic shook his head.

"You're starting to sound like me, Shadow." Sonic murmured with a chuckle. "No, I need you two out here to support the ground forces. Without you guys, we might lose this war."

With a solemn nod, Shadow walked away, but not before he left Sonic with one more thing to think about. "And you're starting to sound like me, faker."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born to help us through adversity" –__**Proverbs 17:17.**_**) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 5**_

_**There for Tomorrow**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

A large oilrig could be seen in the distance as Sonic and his thirty men squadron rode in on helicopters. Sonic moved his hand to the side of his helmet where a small radio was located. "Alright, do I need to go over the plan again?" the hedgehog muttered while the chopper's blades beat overhead.

"Um, I don't entirely get it," he heard a voice reply over the com-link, and thusly sighed afterward.

"Alright, it'll be a simple search and destroy mission," Sonic explained as they neared the rig. "I have a few soldiers in the squad equipped with heavy explosives. We need to make sure that at least two of these specialists make it to the robot factory that's on this rig, unless you want to learn how to arm a bomb while under fire of the enemy. We'll be moving in an arrow-point formation, with the specialists behind our line of defense."

He heard a grunt of affirmation over the radio, and few hurrahs, and then a sound of panic. "Sonic, we recent reports have shown that the site is armed with SAM structures!" The pilot of his helicopter exclaimed. "Multiple report sightings have been confirmed! If those pods are still online, we're not gonna make it!"

Sonic held his breath. Surface to air missile pods, more commonly known as SAMs, were dangerous to air craft. They tracked their targets well, and fired missiles that were heat-seeking. To fly into a zone that was protected with SAMs was suicide. "Well pilot, we'll have to a…"

"I don't believe it!" the pilot exclaimed, cutting him off. Sonic would've jumped in surprise if he had more to support him above the ocean than a simple bench attached to the chopper. "Another recent report has shown that the SAM sites have been obliterated!"

A glimmer of hope shinned in the hedgehog's heart and he gave a skeptical glance to the pilot through the cockpit, though he was sure that the pilot couldn't see him. "Define _'obliterated'_, pilot." He ordered while keeping his eyes on the oilrig as they approached it.

"Their piles of smoldering ruin, sir!" The pilot clarified with happiness. "We'll be there shortly, so tell the team to prep for landing."

With a smirk, Sonic reached back up for his helmet's com-link and spoke, "Alright men, we'll be arriving soon! Lock and load; get ready to land!"

He swore he could hear the shouts and huzzahs from the other copters, even without the radio active. Sonic looked to his side and saw a certain soldier that he wasn't sure was assigned to the squad. The chipmunk was currently inserting a thirty round magazine into his G36-C assault rifle. The curved magazine fit perfectly into the slot and he cocked the weapon's breach bolt subsequently. "I'm sorry, but I don't think Shadow assigned you to this squad," Sonic spoke, skeptical of the chipmunk.

"I wasn't assigned by Shadow," the chipmunk confirmed while making sure the iron sight was properly aligned. "I am Staff Sergeant Calico Turner, and I was assigned to your military regiment by my superior, General Conan Shaw."

"Shaw?" the hedgehog question, trying to remember where he'd heard that name before. He widened his eyes as he remembered where he'd seen it… Tails had spoken of the man in one of his letters; described him as some the overseer of the Astros Military Outpost. "Do you happen to know a friend of mine? He's a yellow-"

"Not the time, sir," Calico denied the hedgehog an answer as their helicopters came into land, with rows of robots coming at them.

Sonic nodded as he put his hand back to his helmet and said, "All pilots, engage the enemy. Use any means necessary to send those bots back to the scrap heap." No sooner than he'd given the order, the choppers revved up their mini-guns and sprayed lead at the bots, shredding them in mere seconds. Once the landing zone was clear, the battalion of thirty plus Sonic and Calico leaped from their copters and charged into the other corridors of the station.

"Remember men, stick together!" Sonic shouted as they worked into the designated arrow-point formations. In the midst of these formations, the hedgehog could see soldiers in black body suits and black helmets. Their bodies were lined with florescent oranges and on their backs were explosive packs. "We need to protect our explosive's specialists at all costs!"

While working their way through the halls, they came across the occasional straggling robot, and those were quickly taken care of with swiftness. Sonic looked to his left and right, noticing how well these men followed his commands, and it made him proud to lead such an exceptional group of soldiers.

In the midst of his appreciation, they approached an area of the oilrig that was filled with pipes and tubing. Sonic looked around skeptically as they made their way through the area, wondering why it was so empty. It was extremely quiet; to the point that you could hear a pin drop from several meters… it was too quiet.

All of a sudden, the area filled up with grey smoke and the hedgehog saw the soldier at the front of their formation fall to the ground, his head having been blown to a bloody pulp. "Find cover, their using thermal optics!" Sonic ordered while getting behind cover himself.

Fighting an enemy who had thermal optics in a low visibility environment was bad. It was like fighting a ghost. You would never know they'd be there until they finish you off. To fight a battle like this was difficult, but the hedgehog held on. To his side, he saw Calico equipping a new scope to his G36-C, and he asked, "What are you doing, Calico?"

"Adapting," he simply stated as he peeked his head over their cover and peered through his scope. The world was viewed in grey and white to him through his thermal scope, and he began to easily pick off the snipers that were pinning down their men. Sonic looked skeptically at the chipmunk who stood before him. If this is what a simple Staff Sergeant from the Astros was capable of, what would Tails have been capable of?

He let the thought escape him as he began to hear shouts from the rest of his squad, signifying that they'd died off. He cursed under his breath and pulled the pin on a grenade at his belt, throwing it over the tank they used as cover in whatever location it may land. He then widened his eyes in the revelation that they were hiding behind an oil tank, and a small fire was burning at the top from the fumes.

"Calico, get back!" Sonic shouted, surprising the chipmunk for a moment. The two then dived back, just before the tank exploded in a ball of fire. They chose to hide behind a few other poles, in hopes of escaping their enemy. Calico immediately began to fire on the enemy once more with the assistance of his thermal scope.

"Here, make yourself useful," Calico suggested while unslinging another rifle from his back and handing it to the hedgehog. From its design, he presumed it to be an ACR from its structured shape. He also noticed the scope atop it and peered down it, seeing a bunch of white.

"I can't see anything but white," he notified Calico, who sighed.

"That's because you're pointing sights right at me," he explained. "It's a thermal scope, so it should help you see the robots in the distance, as long as you're not staring at me."

With a blush of embarrassment, the hedgehog began to peer out from behind the plumbing and saw white figures in the distance that held the shape of one of Eggman's bots. Aligning the red crosshairs with his target, he let out a small burst of bullets, downing the robot.

He grinned in succession as he did the same to other robots. After a few magazines were spent, he browsed the area, to find that the only white figures left were blinking with grey, which he presumed meant that they were allies. "Alright everyone, we've cleared the area of the enemy!" He shouted to the soldiers. "Gather in a small area so I can check for casualties!"

The soldiers gathered and Sonic counted them off. He was sad to see that there were only fifteen of them left and they'd lost a good amount of their explosives specialists. They were scraping the minimum, with only two specialists left standing. With a sigh, he turned around and ordered, "Get back into your formations and follow me."

As they approached the supposed destination, Sonic's feeling of anxiety rose. With only two specialists left, they would need to protect them both heavily to make sure this mission was a success. Every turn brought a new fear to his mind; until it was either rested when there were no robots, or ratified with they rounded the corner and almost fell into a trap. With each robot destroyed, it brought them closer to victory, and closer to the factory.

Through the next door that Sonic and his battalion charged through, there were hundreds of robots just waiting for them. The machines all had their guns poised toward them and Sonic was forced to act quickly by curling into a quick spin-dash and blasting through them. While the process was lengthy, it drew the bots' attention and allowed the soldiers to fire unhampered.

Sonic was suddenly grabbed by two of the bots, preventing him from moving and the bots poised their guns at the small task force once more. All fire had momentarily ceased as they held a stare off for moments on end. "Attention intruders, stand down, you're surrounded!" the lead robot shouted. It was of golden color and seemed to emit threatening vibes.

However, all heads looked upward when they heard the screeching sound of a plane flying overhead. Within moments, everything was destroyed. Missiles were fired from the above plane at the building they were in, effectively destroying the roof and crushing several of the robots inside. From the hole in the roof, a figure jumped down and into the rubble of the destruction.

Sonic immediately recognized the yellow fox, and his two tails. "Good going Calico, thanks for the coordinates," Tails commended the chipmunk while holding two Daewoo K7 submachine guns in his hands. "It's my turn."

With fierce firing, Tails sprayed at the robots from his position, taking down many of the bots before they could even comprehend the situation. When the magazines to his guns were emptied, he dropped the firearms on the ground and charged at the nearest bot, taking his head off with a ferocious kick.

Tossing away the bots remains; he ungloved his hands and began to shred the robots away with his claws. With the small area left in ruin and destruction, the floors littered with scrap, Tail returned his gloves to his hands. He looked back on his comrades and smirked at the hedgehog who was staring at him in shock. "What's the matter Sonic? You look like you've seen a ghost."

As he was addressed and brought out of his trance, Sonic pulled the kit in for a quick hug. "Tails, it's really you!" he exclaimed. "Where've you been, buddy?"

"I've been where I told you I was," Tails explained to his surrogate brother. "Sorry I'm late by five years, the General hid some info from me."

Sonic then cleared the tears from his eyes and turned back toward his soldiers and shouted, "Well then, let's blow the lid off this pop stand!"

With a loud chorus of hooahs with huzzahs, the bombs were set and planted with a timer. The soldiers retreated as the bombs ticked away. Back at the landing pads, the helicopters were faithfully waiting for them, and Sonic's regiment piled in. Tails simply waited as his plane auto piloted around the oilrig, and he jumped off of the platform, landing perfectly in his cockpit.

As he flew off with Sonic's regiment, he felt a sense of happiness overwhelm him. All his hard work had finally come in handy. With the training and battle experience he'd gained over the years, it had finally paid off. As he flew back with the remainder of the choppers, he felt pretty good about himself.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Flashing lights nearly blinded the kit as he strode down the aisle of soldiers that greeted him on either side. He saw Mobians of all colors, races, and rank that gave him a respectful salute as he neared the end of the walkway. Sonic gave Tails a smile as he was escorted down the walkway by his brother.

There, General Shaw was waiting to greet him as the scene was broadcasted via television across the nation. General Shaw held a microphone to his beak as he spoke, "Soldiers, we are here today to honor the stupendous efforts of Command Sergeant Major Miles Prower."

Loud cheering was heard from the crowd, but was soon silenced by the falcon. "Miles, your effort over the recent five years has made you one of the best operatives in our entire army. This also makes you the youngest operative by far, and even then, you have served superbly." Shaw continued his congratulations as he smiled at the kit. "It is with the honor of knowing you and the respect that we all give you that I promote you today. Congratulations on your amazing work, Warrant Officer Prower."

Loud clapping was heard as Shaw handed a small sown badge to Tails, the shape of it being a silver rectangle with a small black box inside of it. Shaw then stood back and saluted the young kit, who eagerly returned the gesture.

The army finally had hope. After years of simply surviving, they finally had a chance to win the war. With one of the factories destroyed, they finally had a fighting chance. Tails looked back over and saw all their happy faces. His job was to preserve the chance for others happiness by liberally defending the liberty of liberal democracy; and so he chose to stand with his freedom, for the freedom to choose. It was all he had ever desired, save for the soul of one.

To see his fellows, these soldiers cheering him on, he felt even more fired up to fight to win this war. Thus his enlivened steps took him back down the aisle of soldiers, with Shaw to his left, and Sonic on his right. They would win this war… he could feel it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Blackstone: Hey guys, I put a ton of symbolism in here, while you're reading, try looking for it. Consider it a challenge.**

**I just want to say that I'm writing this, not because I don't have other things I could be doing, but because I genuinely love you guys, so take care.**

**Syaoron: This chapter was entirely done by Blackstone.**

**Disclaimer: We neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Archie, or Sonic X.**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot and all charactes not affiliated with the above mentioned.**

* * *

It was exactly six years to the day of Cosmo's death, and it was also the morning that a mourning fox came home. The fox of course was Miles Prower who was still heartbroken about the loss of his girl, especially on such a grave anniversary. Cream, who hadn't seen Tails face to face for the past six years, was going to meet him when he arrived at the airport.

You see, there was a ceasefire in effect for now, and the politicians wanted to reward Tails' heroism in the field with a big award ceremony with them, as well as a little Rest and Relaxation. Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow, and a few other top war heroes were also given some R&R time, just not the same level of public attention.

Cream was very excited, for they had exchanged letters lately, and in their last exchange they had traded pictures of each-other. Tails had grown to be very good looking, or so Cream thought anyway. She also reflected on his letters, thinking about how kind and considerate he was. She reflected on his many other virtues as well. Cream was starting to develop the puppy (or should I say rabbit) love so common in young girls. And what's more, it was happening without her even having met her friend in years!

The two had also had the opportunity to do a video chat yesterday with Tails. This sealed her affections. And so it was that Cream sat in her room, ruminating on that all-important of questions for girls: "what should I wear?"

Cream's bedroom had a simple beauty to it. Its deep soft carpet was white. The walls were white, with pictures of flowers hanging upon it, as well as one painting of an alfalfa field. There was one window in the room, bringing in a modest amount of light to a plant in the corner of the room. By her bedside sat a small table with two pictures, one of her with Cheese, and one with Tails.

Water is that which keeps us alive, and all who live seek water above all things. Cream had just finished watering the plant, sprinkling it in its font with that conscience giving water which directs the life of the victorious. The rabbit cared for the plant out of penitence for lacking the power to save her life.

Cream stood there in her room, holding up a dress in front of a full-body sized mirror. "Do you think I'd look better in this red dress, or that blue one?" She asked. But to who had she asked it you ask? She had directed that question to the plant, the plant! It looked like a large, thick cornstalk, about five or six feet tall, and it stood in a hexagon shaped pot with a picture of a fox on each of its eight sides. It had a couple of huge rose buds near the top, one on each side. This plant, as you may have guessed, had come from Cosmo's seed, which Sonic had discovered at the time of her death.

"I think I'll go with the blue one, I think Miles will like that." She giggled with all the spirit of an energetic 12 year old.

A wave of guilt soon washed over her though, she had felt this guilt before, ever since Tails return. How could she have a crush on, plus try to flirt with Tails? Wouldn't that be a betrayal of her friend Cosmo? And how did she think she could, or even had a right to win Tails heart when his heart was clearly still set upon Cosmo? Maybe considering the seedrian's sacrifice, Cosmo had earned the right to have no one cut between her and her love? All these thoughts coursed through her brain as she acted on her course to get ready.

'But maybe Miles just needs someone to love him? Maybe his needs are more important than a possibility that has already passed? Maybe those needs could be met by me?' Cream thought, smiling happily.

'I suppose I should just have him decide what he wants.' She silently concluded in her mind, as she was just applying the last of her makeup.

Just then, the plant in the corner of the room started shaking, creating a great kerfuffle of rustling leaves. This startled Cream, which luckily did not cause her to slip up with her cosmetics. She stared at the plant in great astonishment. The plant stopped shaking for a moment, and a part of it ripped in the middle.

This terrified Cream who had spent so much time and effort caring for the plant, and did not want to see it get hurt. Something poked through the hole and ripped the lining of the plant from the inside out. The outer plant skin fell away, revealing quite another plant: Cosmo.

Cosmo was in a white dress which was wet with water and her chlorophyll blood. Cosmo had died, but now she was alive. She was very much changed however. In Cosmo's eyes were revealed to be the fiery light, the whiteness and brightness of purity, righteousness, holiness, innocence, even unto the victory over death.

"Cosmo!" Cream shouted. The seedrian fainted on the spot, falling forward and hitting the floor lightly. Cream rushed over, her bunny heart leaping along a thousand times a minute; and as she did so the rest of the plant that had buried Cosmo, burned away before her eyes. She turned Cosmo over, and saw that her face had hit the floor rather hard, but she was okay. She now looked to be about fourteen, her age had apparently changed with time, even in the plant. She was very thin though, even a little thinner than usual; she was apparently weak, needing nourishment and rest to fully recover.

Cream energetically leaped into action, picking up Cosmo and laying her in her bed. She then sought to prepare some quick soup for her friend. As she went about all of this, neither her heart nor mind truly apprehended the miraculous and wonderful thing that had just happened, it just didn't process yet. It was like an out of body experience, that's was what it was like to her.

'What does this mean?' She thought, 'how is life going to change with Cosmo here?' She stopped dead in her tracks while the soup was starting to boil in the pot. 'What does this mean with Miles?'

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"_Kind Heav'n, if virtue be thy care,  
With courage fire me,  
Or art inspire me,  
To free the captive fair."

–**Handel's Opera, Theodora (Blackstone's favorite Opera).** **) **

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 6**_

_**Cream, Plants, and Foxes.**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It is now necessary to tell Cosmo's side of this story. Cosmo had woken up in the plant to the feeling of water covering her body. She had awoken just in time to hear a soft, high-pitched voice say, "Do you think I'd look better in this red dress, or that blue one?" There was a pause, then she heard the same unfamiliar voice say, "I think I'll go with the blue one, I think Miles will like that." She heard the girl then giggle. The voice reminded her of her friend Cream, but it was too deep. And Miles? No, it couldn't be Tails, but then, who else could the voice be referring to?

'What happened?' Cosmo pondered. Then she remembered the circumstances of her death, and came to the conclusion that she had somehow been revived. 'But how much time has gone by?' She wondered. Has Tails forgotten me? Has this girl become his girlfriend?' She despaired, but resolved in her soul everlasting devotion to Tails, even if he could not love her, even if she would have to suffer through nothing but pain, because she would always love Tails. She could not do anything else; her heart was set in its course.

She needed to get out of wherever she was trapped, she needed to get to Tails, she wanted to see him so desperately. And so she started struggling desperately against bonds which kept her from her future self. She struggled and struggled but was snuggled closer by the prison of her present life. Her actions were totally helpless.

But now a love driven power entered her heart, giving her the power to move her hand in front of her and stick her finger out. Her finger ripped through the lining of the outer plant and freed her inner self: her true self.

The old shell fell away, and burned in an immersion of fire. Cosmo was left standing there with little strength left over. The last thing she saw while conscious was that the girl who had spoken so fondly of the fox was a much older Cream.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Cream was being driven from Station Square to the airport by her best friend Amy who. She had left Cosmo in the tender care of her mother Vanilla.

Cream didn't know what to say, but she knew that she had to tell Amy of Cosmo's return. She also knew that no matter what she did, Tails would soon find out and would want to see her again.

Cream rationalized, 'Maybe Tails is still heartbroken, more out of a dream of Cosmo than out of love? Maybe when he sees her and knows she's alright, he'll realize that; plus he won't feel sad anymore, which would allow his heart to be free to love me!'

"What are you thinking about Cream?" Amy asked. "You seem troubled, or deeply lost in thought."

"Amy, I have to tell you something, but please don't freak out."

"Of course Cream, but why would I freak out?"

"Well, you know Cosmo's plant?"

"Did something happen to it?" Amy sounded alarmed.

"You might say that. This morning when I was getting ready, Cosmo popped out of it."

"Huh? What do you mean Cream?"

"I mean that Cosmo's alive."

Amy nearly ran into a tree. She yelled, "COSMO'S BACK?"

"Exactly," said a rabbit who had just been _driven_ scared.

"So she just sort of, 'popped out' of the plant, alive and well?"

"Well, she is weak, my mom's taking care of her right now, but yes that's what happened."

Amy calmed and collected herself, and continued, "We've got to tell Tails, he'll be so excited!"

"Yeah," Cream sadly muttered. Amy did not detect this sadness, for she was distracted by another's concerns.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

When they arrived at the Airport, they took a train to concourse B. They then walked along the moving sidewalks to arrive at the gate faster, and when they got there, they plopped down into the black vinyl seats with their friends. Amy excitedly told them all about Cream's great news. The rabbit was asked to clarify from time to time, but soon the news had spread throughout the group. They then waited, mostly in silence for Tails plane to arrive, while staring out of the massive windows.

There were camera crews and reporters that were setting up equipment nearby, which unnerved everyone there. After fifteen minutes or so, the plane finally arrived. Tails was of the last to get off, and when he did so, he was hit by a barrage of the press. There were camera flashes a plenty which blinded the hapless, helpless fox. His friends were startled at first, but soon surrounded and rescued him from the vicious paparazzi.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Amy, Sonic, Cream, traveled with Tails to Miss Vanilla's home. When they were almost there, Sonic informed Tails of _her_ fate, "Hey bud, guess what? As it turns out, Cosmo is alive."

Tails sat there for a minute, looking as if he'd been slapped in the face before he yelled, "LIAR! HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH INSULT TO COSMO'S NAME?" He was positively fuming. The whole group was silent as they walked into the lovely abode. They went upstairs and silently showed Tails into Cream's bedroom where he saw a still unconscious Cosmo being cared for by Vanilla.

Tails stood in shock, and with the awe of witnessing a beautiful bliss: a dream which had come true for two. He then turned around sharply and ran out of the room, fell of his knees and wept bitterly. For the next few minutes his consoling friends explained the situation of Cosmo's return. She was physically weak, but according to Vanilla, she would be alright.

When Tails was ready, he slowly walked back to his world: his Cosmos. He approached, knelt down by her side, took her hand in his, gently put his other hand on the top of her head where a tear of his had just fallen, and bent over her, giving the sweet approbation of a long awaited kiss. It was simple and sweet, lasting only a few moments; but when he backed away, backed away in the corner was a bitter, weeping Cream.

Cosmo's eyes fluttered open, and the first person she saw was Sonic. She smiled up at him and brightly welcomed him with her voice, "Sonic!"

"How are you doing Cosmo?" He asked with is trademark thumbs up.

"I'm a little bit woozy, but other than that I'm fine. Oh, it's so good to see you! What happened anyway Sonic?"

"Well, when you sacrificed yourself, Shadow and I tried to bring you back, but all we found was a single seed. We planted it and Cream took care of it all this time, for five years in fact. Today you popped out of the plant which the seed grew into."

Amy interjected, "So here you are!"

"Oh, so that explains… wait, where's Tails?" Cosmo looked around concernedly.

They all looked around but could not find the object of their concern, so concerned became they, that they set him as the object of a search, soon to be undertaken. Vanilla gave a small glass of milk to Cosmo to drink, along with some bread spread with honey to eat.

Cosmo, against Vanilla's better judgment, insisted on joining the search for Tails, that Sonic and Amy were about to commence. Her hedgehog friends backed her up on her desire, for they knew how important he was to her. And thus, after Cosmo had finished her token feast, the three set off to find the fox.

They looked all over town for over an hour, and it was already late dusk when Sonic found his brother. Tails was sitting on a solemn sidewalk overlooking a two way street. This way was old since it had been last paved; it was scarred and broken down the middle, thus that there was a separation in the heart of the road: the relationship.

Sonic approached, and sat down next to the kit, who sat still without even the acknowledgment of a glance. The two sat there for several minutes, simply staring at the road, neither of them saying anything with their mouths, only their hearts.

Tails at last spoke up, "Why haven't you said anything yet?"

"I was kinda hoping you would." Sonic candidly replied.

"Well what do you expect me to say?" Tails asked this judgmentally, as if trying to condemn his friend of some supposed wrong.

"I don't know: I don't know your motivations."

Tails then muttered to himself, "I don't know her motivations either."

"What do you mean?"

This made Tails angry, who then snapped, "Never mind!"

They sat for another minute in solemn contemplation. Sonic looked at the road while thinking about Tails, while Tails looked at the road while thinking about Cosmo. They both, however, pondered on what the one they wondered about thought about them.

Amy and Cosmo happened to be wandering by when they saw in the distance the brothers sitting on the sidewalk. "Tails!" the Seedrian yelled. She started running, but was run to a stop almost as quickly as the start, for Amy had held out her hand to stop her. Cosmo saw Tails look towards her at his name's mention, but then buried his head in his hands in a most grave and distressed manner.

Cosmo turned to an indicating Amy who suggested that such an outburst would not be appropriate; for Amy shook her head, whispering, "Tails looks really upset about something, it would be best to give him some room."

The poor girl took all this in and started processing it. Soon she assumed and thought with heartfelt devastation, 'Oh, I get it. Tails and Cream are a couple now. That's why Cream was so upset when I woke up an hour ago; and that's why Tails neglected me, left me right when he could finally speak to me again after all these years. He and Cream know that I love him, and want to be detached from me for that reason. Oh, it's embarrassing! He might have had feelings for me before, which I now doubt, but certainly not after five years, especially now that he has Cream as his girlfriend, to love, to hold, and to kiss.'

Cosmo now was crying in inconsolable solitude. As she saw it, him whom she loved had turned his back on her, and this had set an example to copy, a course to follow, a split on her side of the road of love, which must be a two way street in order to get anywhere. Luckily for her privacy, no one noticed this emotion, for it was dark, and they were focused on Tails who was in a privacy of emotion himself.

The girls stayed back, waiting at a distance. A few minutes passed, everyone wondering what was going to happen. At last Tails stood and told Sonic that it was late and he was going home. Sonic said ok, and that he would go home after saying goodnight to Amy. They parted ways.

Sonic approached the girls and with a solemn note, his voice pitched, "I don't know why Tails is so upset yet, he was unwilling to talk. But we'll all go home tonight and sleep on the problem. There's nothing more we can do about it today."

After Sonic gave Amy a quick kiss goodnight, their company broke up. And in the misty darkness of a void filled heart, a certain kitsune reflected upon some trivial acts of seemingly momentous representation, for he did think upon Cosmo's expressions. She talked to Sonic with bright eyes and light voice, his name, her pleasure at seeing him again, all without so much as a mention of himself. Tails had taken Cosmo's manner to be one of affection for Sonic and none for him. Yes, Tails had mistaken Cosmo to be in love with Sonic instead of him.

Jealousy is an unattractive jelly which, being sticky does stick to our demeanor, ever gluing undesirable filthiness to our souls, both in deed and in thought. If it covers us, it makes a mess of life which is wholly undesirable to those around us, and soon we are uncovered in loneliness. If you have seen a child in such a predicament, you know what I mean, for they wear their minds on their sleeves.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The next morning, Tails decided to take a walk to clear his head. The sun was rising in the cloudy sky, covering up that light which lights our way. As the fox walked to a park and strode along the trail, he hid his face down in contemplation of his shoes. He spotted a small bench and decided he would like to sit in his depressed state. In his downcast outlook, he only saw that someone was sitting on the other side of the bench, but didn't care. He sat down, looking at the ground all the while.

"Tails?" The fellow bench user said. It was Cosmo.

Tails sat up straight with all the agility of someone shocked by a cattle prod. "Cosmo?" He asked, blushing. He was so embarrassed for not noticing it was her. His ashamed attitude showed in his countenance, only furthering to confirm Cosmo's suspicions.

Tails looked at the girl and noticed that this morning, she looked every bit as miserable as was he; her eyes were red and puffy, as if she had cried herself to sleep late at night. "Is there something wrong Cosmo?"

"Well… I'm just sad at what's taken place these past few years that I've been gone." She was thinking of course about Tails supposed abandonment of her for Cream, but didn't want to admit that he specifically was the reason, so she went with ambiguity.

Tails thought she was talking about Sonic falling in love with Amy, and becoming her boyfriend. What she said only served to confirm his own suspicions inwardly. Yet outwardly he said, "Yeah, I know what you mean, this war has been tragic."

"Yeah…" she sighed.

'Still,' Tails thought, 'we can still be friends at least, even if she does love Sonic; right?' At this cheering thought, he tried the theory out in practice. "So… Cosmo, do you want to catch a movie later today?"

Cosmo looked at him as if he was from Mars instead of Mobius. 'I know he's just trying to be nice,' Cosmo inwardly worked out, 'and that he wants to show that he has no hard feelings, but doesn't he know that this approach would only cause trouble with Cream?' "No thank you Tails. What if a certain someone were to see us together there?" Cosmo was thinking of course of Cream, but Tails understood her to be referring to Sonic.

Up to this time, Tails had held suspicious doubts about whether she really loved Sonic, or whether he was just imagining things. Now however, he was totally convinced as to the matter and little could convince him otherwise. He just sat there in stunned silence.

After merely a few moments, Cosmo got up, said goodbye, and walked away. After a few minutes sat in depressed devastation, Tails followed suit and walked home. Both of their hearts were demolished in that two way destruction of jealousy and fear. It started raining, and the truth covering clouds mourning on this morning, the sad tale of Tails in his cosmos of Cosmo, and Cosmo in her sorry state of not being the cream of the crop in her love's eyes, or so she thought.

Tails was left to tell himself that the tale of their love was over; while Cosmo was left to wonder that question of questions in a girl's mind: "Am I not pretty enough?"

**~ ("**_If love's a sweet passion why does it torment?  
If a bitter, oh tell me, whence comes my content?  
Since I suffer with pleasure, why should I complain,  
or grieve at my fate, when I know it's in vain?  
Yet so pleasing the pain is so soft as the dart,  
That at once it both wounds me and tickles my heart_."**) ~**

-The Fairy Queen, by Henry Purcell.


	7. Chapter 7

**Blackstone: Disclaimer: A massive chunk of the plot in this chapter was taken and adapted from Shakespeare; it was just too good not to use.**

**Syaoron: This chapter was also entirely done by Blackstone. WOOH! Go Blackstone!**

**Disclaimer: We neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Sonic X, or Archie.**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.**

* * *

"Don't you see; it's the perfect plan," Amy announced. "They obviously are shy in expressing their real feelings because they don't know of the other's."

Knuckles interjected, "I don't know Amy, what if this plan doesn't work?"

"Well it's at least worth a try," Rouge answered. "And if nothing else, at least we get to have fun insulting them. But what's the worst that could really happen?"

"Don't say that, whenever someone says stuff like that in a movie, something really bad happens."

"This is real life Knucklehead, don't be superstitious."

"I'm not I'm just saying-"

"Enough!" Amy yelled. "Let's just do it."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

_**~ ("LUCETTA:**__ Yet he, of all the rest, I think, best loves ye._

_**JULIA:**__ His little speaking shows his love but small._

_**LUCETTA:**__ Fire that's closest kept burns most of all._

_**JULIA:**__ They do not love that do not show their love._

_**LUCETTA:**__ O, they love least that let men know their love."_

**-Two Gentlemen of Verona, by William Shakespeare.****) **

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Much Ado About Rumor of Romance**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It was evening, just approaching dusk, and Tails was still working on the Tornado as he had been doing all day. He heard someone coming, but he didn't want to see anyone, so he went and hid in the cockpit of the plane.

Two guys came walking right by that plane in the garage, they were Knuckles and Sonic. Knuckles whispered to Sonic, "Did you see where that kid-fox hid himself?"

"Very well my friend," replied Sonic.

They each leaned their hand upon the plane. With a loud voice Knuckles began, "What was it you told me earlier today; that Cosmo was in love with Tails?"

"Oh yeah I did. But before I heard the news, I didn't think that she loved anyone." Sonic, also loudly told.

"Me neither, but it's wonderful that she so devotes herself to Tails, whom she has in all outward appearances seemed ever to ignore.

'Is it possible?' thought a disbelieving Tails.

Sonic continued, "In truth, I can't tell what to think of it but that she loves him with an inflamed affection. It's almost infinitely past all belief or thought."

"Well, if it's beyond belief, maybe she just counterfeits her feelings for some reason?"

"Oh my, counterfeit? There never was counterfeit of passion that came so near the life, the fire of passion, as she uncovers her feelings."

"Has she made her love known to Tails?"

"No, and she swears she never will, that's her torment. She can't bring herself to admit it."

"Well then, what effects of passion does she show?"

'I should think this a trick, except that Sonic speaks it,' thought on Tails.

"Well," answered Sonic, "Amy told me that when she began to write a confession of her love, she was up twenty times last night, sitting in her pajamas until she wrote it on a sheet of paper. She read it over to herself, frowned, tore it into a thousand pieces, scolded herself about being so immodest as to write to someone whom she already knows would reject her. Then down upon her knees she fell, wept, sobbed, beat her heart, tore her hair, and cried, 'O' sweet Tails! God give me patience!'

Sonic went on further, "And she really does to, my Amy says so. And the passion is so intense that Amy is afraid she might do a desperate outrage to herself."

Knuckles suggested, "It would be good if Tails knew of it. Maybe we should tell him if she won't do it herself?"

"To what end? He might just make sport of it and torment the poor girl worse, it's not like he cares about love in the first place. Besides, Amy thinks that surely she'll die of embarrassment and heartbreak, because Cosmo says she will die if he doesn't love her, and she will die if her love is made known, she will even die if he woo her.

"It's very sad; she is an excellent, sweet girl, very beautiful. Wise as well, in every way except for loving Tails."

Knuckles praised and put down, "She's doing the right thing then: if she should become tender with her love it's very possible that he'll scorn it, for the kit, as you know, has a contemptible 'know-it-all' spirit. Even though he does have some sparks in his brain that may be called intelligence."

"He's a very smart kid, and in my mind a very wise kit. I love Tails well, and I wish he would modestly examine himself to see how much he is unworthy of so good a girl. We'll wait and see what Amy has to say about telling the tale to our young Tails."

"Well, speaking of Amy, will we go to her house? Dinner will soon be ready."

"Sure," Sonic said, beginning to walk out. He then dropped his voice down to an excited whisper which became their present mode of address. "If he doesn't dote on her upon hearing this, I will never again trust my expectations."

"I've got a brilliant idea! Let's send Cosmo to call him into dinner." They laughed heartily at this scheme on the state of affairs.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Tails hopped out of the solitary cockpit canopy. "This can be no trick: their talk was said with a sad air. They have the truth of this from Amy. They seem to pity Cosmo: it seems her affections have their full force. She loves me! But why does she? That I can't explain any more than I can explain the reasons for the feelings in my heart. Well, I'll just have to return the favor.

"I hear how I am criticized: Knuckles says I'm a know-it-all, and will drive her away because of my interest in machines over man. I must change myself, happy are they that can hear their detractions and can put them to mending.

"They say she is beautiful, that's true, and I can bear them witness. And wise? Yes, it's true that loving me doesn't make her any more wise, but it does make her even sweeter, and it's no great argument for her folly either for I am _horribly_ in love with her!

"I may have some occasional teasing from these two, not to mention the modern Cupid called Amy, but isn't Cosmo worth it? Hasn't she endured enough torture just for me? And who's to say that if we've loved this long, that we won't get married one day? Shall these jests and jokes scare me from marriage? _**NO**_! The world must be peopled!"

Tails saw someone approach and inwardly thought, 'Oh my goodness, here comes Cosmo! By this lovely day she looks pretty!' Tails started panting and clutched his hammering heart. 'Ok fox, _act natural…'_

Cosmo dejectedly walked up to him, stopping a comfortable several feet away, and looking up to him, graciously said, "I have been sent to bid you, come in to dinner."

Tails replied, "Cosmo, thank you for your pains."

Cosmo couldn't decide if he was secretly referring to her painfully, distantly kept love for him, or whether he simply meant the trouble she had taken to call him in. Either way, she didn't want him worried about her, nor aware of how much her heart was breaking. And so she simply speedily said, "I take no more pains to come than you take pains to thank me. If it had been painful, I would not have come."

"You take pleasure then in the message?"

"Yes, I do like eating dinner."

Tails had just finished wiping his grease stained glove with a rag. He would have to wash it off properly at Amy's house, but unfortunately couldn't fully do it now; otherwise he would have held Cosmo's hand on their way towards dinner.

As they walked, Tails couldn't help thinking, 'Ha ha! She said, 'I take no more pains to come than you take pains to thank me. If it had been painful, I would not have come.' That's like saying, 'Any pains I take for you is as easy as thanks.' This confirms it! If I do not date her I'd be a villain, if I do not express to her my love I'd be a fox! Oh wait, I am a fox, I'm just not… deceiving.'

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The following morning, just after the light of dawn broke but before the sun rose, a Rose walked out of her home. Amy met up with Rouge, and together they took their course to a nearby flower garden where they knew that Cosmo went every morning.

Amy quietly informed her co-conspirator, "Now Rouge, we'll trace our way up and down a path until Cosmo comes near us on the other side of the hedge. When she does, we must talk only of Tails. Let it be your role to praise him more than anyone deserves. My job will be to talk to you about how much he is love-sick with her. Of this material is Cupid's crafty arrow made, and it will only pierce her heart by hearsay."

"Ok, sounds good. Look, there she is behind the hedge; she is still unaware we are here.

"Then let us go near her, so her ears lose nothing of the sweet bait that we lay for it."

Their conference was done quietly, but now they spoke loud and clear that it might clear the ear of Cosmo, clearing her heart of any bitter confusion.

Rouge started their foxy, tricky trap, "No, Cosmo is way too depressing; her spirits are too sullen and miserable to make a good friend, let alone _girlfriend_. But are you sure that Tails loves Cosmo that much?"

"So says Knuckles, and my dear sweet Sonic."

"And didn't they ask you to tell her about it?"

"They did, but I persuaded them that if they cared about Tails, that they should counsel him to hide his passion, and never to let Cosmo know of it."

Cosmo had heard all this thus far of their loudly spoken discourse, and was horrified by what she had heard. She pondered in silence, 'Oh, so that's why he asked me out? So he's fallen back in love with me? That's a betrayal of Cream's trust, how shameful of him! Then let him keep his feelings to himself until they die away!'

Rouge continued, "But why did you do that? Doesn't Tails, who's so heroic, deserve any girl in the world?"

"Oh, I know he deserves any good thing that exists, but nature never framed a girl's heart of more self-pity than that of Cosmo. She is so focused on herself and her own woe's that to her, all other matters seem weak. I mean, she hasn't even seen that Tails is in love with her! She cannot love nor show affection because she is so self-concerned."

"True," went on Rouge, "and self-concern is a form of self-conceit. It would be a bad idea for her to know of his love; she would probably consider even that a problem!"

"Too true, she seems to spin everything into a problem. She would even do that to poor suffering Tails, despite how wise, gentlemanly, and rare featured he is. She would undoubtedly spell him backwards: if smart, then a show-off; if a gentleman, then he's painted a misogynist; and if he has two Tails, then he's almost as weird as she is. So she not only ignores merit, but turns the best of situations the wrong way out. So let's let Tails like a covered fire, consume away in sighs, waste inwardly; it would be a better death than by the breath taking tears of Cosmo's company."

"Well then, I'm going to go to Tails and tell him to fight against his agony, and I'll do it with the excuse of some truthful bad-mouthing of Cosmo. You never know how much an ill word may poison liking."

Amy replied, "Oh don't do that! Maybe someday Cosmo might change and choose him in return? He certainly isn't getting over her any time soon. How long has he been in love with her? Over five years? He's never gotten over her since our trip to stop the Metarex; he's never loved, dated, or even thought of any other girl in his entire life!"

"You know, sometimes I wish a man loved me that much, and especially someone so good too. His popularity and news of his deeds extends throughout Mobius."

"That reminds me, when is Tail's award ceremony?"

"Um, in three days."

"Come on, let's go plan out what we're going to wear to it."

The two walked off, and when they were in the distance, giggled endlessly. Cosmo came out from the hedge where she had been hiding. She had tears in her eyes, all from love, joy, anger, resentment, and a host of other emotions which had coursed through her veins at the words spoken. You can only imagine the multitude of different thoughts and feelings inside of her right now.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The bathroom is a good place to wash one's face from emotions, for as you wash, you can create an outer illusion of inward control. However that may be though, as Macbeth and his wife following the example of pitiful Pilot, you might wash the stain from the hands, but you can never cleanse the inner vessel from the outward.

And so it was that Cosmo exited the bathroom to return to Amy's home where she was staying. She walked on her way, passing through the center of the flower garden where she happened to be. In the center stood a tall marble statue of Cupid on the lap of his mother Venus. There, only a few feet away from the statue she was met by a certain kit, for he was searching for her. She was startled by his appearance, and flustered at his presence, for she remembered all the things spoken about him: the word reveals the man. She now looked at him less as a friend, and more with that mysterious mist of perfection which love presents.

He stopped when he saw her, and breathed in the incense of her beauty with all the reverence of worship. He was breathless, and speechless, but not emotionless. His heart, his soul was ravenous for the affections of this ravishing girl.

"Hi," he simply said. It was all the eloquence his wolfish heart could muster.

"Oh, hi Tails." Cosmo modestly replied.

Tails dreamily mused on Cosmo's manners, 'Oh, if only she knew how cute she looks with her hands together in front of her, or how sweet she seems with her bright eyes looking up at me.'

She melted Tails heart as he stared and stuttered, "D' do you… well, want to maybe," Cosmo tilted her head to the side with an inquisitive but girlish grace as he continued, "Do you want to take a walk with me? It's a beautiful day, and the flowers are almost as pretty as you." This last part, which came up quite unintentionally, blew up the face of Tails into a giant cherry of red color. Cosmo's face was little more distinguished.

Cosmo looked down, trying to conceal her blushing cheeks. A girl looking down at the ground seems almost a universal sign that a rejection was coming, so Tails thought she was going to turn him down so that she wouldn't show her feelings for him. 'Hadn't she done so before with the offer of a movie?' He thought. 'How could I be so stupid as to try the same approach twice? Sonic and Knuckles did say she didn't want me to know that she loved me.'

The kitsune braced himself for impact as she opened her mouth and said… "Yeah, sure Tails, I'd be delighted!"

'What?' He thought. 'That's impossible, that would be a dream come true.' He asked her, "Do you really mean that Cosmo?"

"Of course Tails, why wouldn't I?"

Tails face brightly beamed as the shining sun. "Ok, let's go!"

He held out his arm formally, and the seedrian smilingly accepted it with the same form of formality. The two walked through the garden, watching the flowers that bloom in the spring as they breathed the promise of merry sunshine. The hope that they bring is welcome, for they bring in a summer of roses and wine: a summer of abiding amorous joy and jubilant jubilee.

Fifteen minutes later, when Tails and Cosmo finished their walk, they sat down on a bench to lounge around the while. Cosmo's conscience had something on its tongue however.

"Tails," she began, "I have something to confess to you."

The fox looked up at her expectantly as she paused and continued, "Tails, I love you, I have loved you almost since I first met you."

Tails simply smiled and stated, "I know."

"Wait, how could you kn-" she began to say, but his kiss was too quick for her mouth to move.

As he kissed her, fiery warmth, no, an inner glow which illuminated the warmth already inside of her, enveloped her heart.


	8. Chapter 8

**Syaoron: Though he didn't say anything, Blackstone wrote all of this one too.**

**Disclaimer: We neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Archie, or Sonic X**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned**

* * *

There came a knock from the knocker of the door. "I'll get it!" called Cosmo. She opened and received the sight of her lover's tails.

"Hi Cosmo," he brightly said.

"Hey Tails; where are we going?"

The sly fox slipped his arms around her in a returned embrace. She was a little shorter than him, and so she was now looking up at his eyes with her own, both sets of which were mutually owned.

"I was thinking we should go somewhere more private."

Amy, who had been listening in around the corner, came and chimed in, "Oooh, and do what exactly? Surely you won't play something as innocent as _Fox and Geese_?"

Cosmo bantered back, "That's rather improper Amy. My mother always told me, 'when a fox-or hedgehog-preaches, take care of your geese.' "

Amy shot forth, "Well, with foxes we must play the fox."

"Not with my fox," said she.

Amy was annoyed by that suggestive remark, and so with annoyed voice she attacked, "Well it's a stupid goose that listens to the fox preach anyway, for this fox will cook the goose before the goose traps that fox."

Cosmo clung to Tails' arm as she thought for a moment and continued, "In her heart, the fox condemns the trap."

"Not so," came in Tails, "for an old fox understands his trap."

Amy skeptically asserted, "But you're not old Tails."

"Hush," defended Cosmo, "for the fox never found a better messenger than himself. Let every fox take care of his own tail."

Amy pointed out, "And a minute ago might have been a better place for you to start."

Cosmo opened her mouth, and then closed it, out foxed.

Amy rejoined, "The fox has many tricks, and the hedgehog only one, but that is the best of all." She laughed.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"__'Relationships,' not love affairs, are what they [people today] have. Love suggests something wonderful, exciting, positive and firmly seated in the passions. A relationship is gray, amorphous, suggestive of a project, without a given content, and tentative. You work at a relationship, whereas love takes care of itself. In a relationship the difficulties come first, and there is a search for common grounds. __Love __presents illusions of perfection to the imagination and is forgetful of all the natural fissures in human connection."_** –-The Closing of the American Mind, by Allen Bloom. **

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 8**_

_**Whilst they Waltzed in the Moonlight**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

"Are you ready?" Tails asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Cosmo answered.

They were flying at high altitude in one of Tails' jets. A deserted desert canyon lay below them beneath layers of billowy pillows of clouds, which clouded the clear course to the ground.

Tails put the jet on auto-pilot and counted, "one, two, three, go!" They jumped out, and spread out their body's to glide through the air. They flew like flying squirrels as they danced around each-other in the air, teasing each other in flight and fancy as two sprites so often do.

But long at last because it couldn't last, Tails deployed his chute, and then Cosmo deployed her dress carried parachute as well. The deceleration was violent, but their landing was gentle. Cosmo was planted gracefully on the ground first, very lady-like. Tails landed second several seconds later, and landed right to the right of her.

Tails and Cosmo gathered up Tails chute, packing it neatly in its pack, and then began walking through the desert they were in, towards a slab of concrete with a green metal roof on top of it. This building was a shooting range.

When they came to the place, they found a row of guns laid out for them on a table.

"These were provided by the military." Tails explained. "They set all this up for me to get some target practice. So you really don't mind shooting with me?"

"Of course not Tails, I'm even kind of curious to get a better feel for what you so for a living."

Tails shuddered at the thought of Cosmo knowing some of the less savory things he had done, but moved on.

Tails walked up to the guns and picked up a long, thin bolt-action rifle. "This fires the smallest round called a 22 caliber, so you don't have to worry about the recoil." Tails explained. "See," he said, holding up a puny round, "it's tiny."

"So that little thing is what it shoots?" Cosmo questioned.

"That's right." Tails replied. He set the round down and picked up a little orange plastic piece shaped like the round he'd just held up. He signaled Cosmo to follow him, and led her to a shooting table. He set down the gun and got a chair, setting his girl down upon it, as any proper man would do. He went and got a chunk of green rubber about the size of two bricks stacked upon each other. The rubber block was curved at the top in a shallow U shape.

Tails set the block down on the table. "It's called a bench-rest. You rest your rifle on it to keep the gun from moving around too much while you're trying to aim."

"But why would the gun move around while I'm aiming?"

"Good question. When you try to aim, your arms won't be completely still, which will move the gun around. You'll see what I mean when you try it out. In fact, being accurate revolves around keeping your whole body perfectly still. And if you try to keep yourself still by becoming tense, then it won't work out so well, so you have to relax your muscles and remove your stress. That's why calm and gentle people like you are often naturals at shooting."

"That's great Tails, but I'm not calm about shooting. I'm nervous about the loud bang from the gun, and especially the recoil."

"Don't worry about it, it's almost nothing on a 22, and we'll work our way up from there."

Tails grabbed a box of ammo, safety glasses, and earmuffs and brought them to the table. They put their eye and ear protection on. Tails took the rifle and loaded the orange dummy round. He handed it to Cosmo.

"Now what you do," he explained, "is hold the gun, place your elbows on the table-which by the way, isn't rude to do in a shooting range-and aim towards the center of the target in front of you." Cosmo did so. "Now look down the sights; you'll notice that there is a gap in the back part of it. Aim so that the front part of the sight covers the niche in the rear part."

"Ok," Cosmo confirmed.

"Good, now aim towards the center as best as you can."

"Wow, I see what you mean now Tails, the gun is wobbling everywhere."

"Don't worry too much about it. Now take a deep breath in and hold your breath." Cosmo complied, drawing in a long deep breath. "Holding your breath helps steady your whole body. When it becomes uncomfortable to hold it, slowly and calmly release it and breathe normally." She calmly emptied her lungs.

"Alright, now try it a few more times, and while breathing, try to be calm and relaxed; attempt to slow your heart rate; stop thinking, empty your head; free yourself from all the cares in the world."

Cosmo relaxed and breathed. After doing it a few more times, Cosmo claimed, "It's like magic, my arms are a lot more still, but I still can't seem to control my heart rate: I'm just too afraid of shooting."

"Well that will lessen when you start shooting. By the way, you should take about two to five minutes aiming per shot when you begin learning, otherwise you'll get bad shooting habits. Anyway, take a breath in and aim." So she did. "Now when you fire, sit there for a few seconds afterwards, not moving, not breathing, and then you can move. So go ahead and _gently, softly_ squeeze the trigger."

As Cosmo slowly pressed the trigger, she wondered how much she needed to pull it before the firing pin struck. She was constantly expecting it to go off as she pulled, but she just pulled on it more and more. Finally she heard a ping. She jumped at the tiny noise.

"Don't worry, I only put a dummy round in there, not a real round."

"I know," said Cosmo, "but it's still a gun."

Tails sighed. Even though he didn't really like damsels in distress per se, he still thought Cosmo's behavior was cute.

Then all the sudden Tails thought of something that might help, "I know; think of something happy, like ice-cream. That should relax you."

"Ok," Cosmo said. She looked back at the target for a moment, then back at Tails. "Tails, did you think about something happy when you were shooting all those robots on your missions?"

Tails heard this, and then looked toward the target, seemingly lost in thought.

"Tails?"

"Yes," he stated.

"What did you think about?"

A tear escaped Tails eye. He moved his lips but nothing came out for a few seconds. "You," he managed to choke out.

"Oh Tails!" Cosmo cried, sensing his emotional need. She set the gun down, glasses, and ear muffs. She embraced him, embraced him gently, but firmly; softly, yet supporting.

He broke down; falling on the floor, on his knees. His tears fell onto Cosmo's feet which were only a few inches below his eyes. He had his palms on the ground, and bent his head forward so that the hairs of his head were touching Cosmo's feet.

Cosmo backed away from this, and got down at his level. She lifted his head onto her lap, stroking his back; soothing his pain with the reality of her presence, and her presence in his life.

After several minutes passed by, he settled down. She took his hands in hers. He looked up at her; she smiled, not in judgment of his action, but in understanding of them. He had after all, been dealing with great loss for years; a breakdown like this was natural to even the most unnaturally strong soul. Although he did not used to be an emotionally strong person, his temporary loss had prepared him for his present life as both soldier and lover, for he had let it change him.

He got up, helping her in the process, for they were still holding hands. They looked again into each other's eyes.

"I know who I'll be thinking about." Cosmo gently said.

Tails just smiled. He watched as Cosmo took her seat back at the table, picked up the gun, aimed very carefully, and several minutes later, squeezed on the trigger. _Bang_… Her first shot rang out. She didn't know what the gun would feel like when it fired, but she found that it gave just a quick jolt, and was more like vibration than getting hit. Still, the feeling surprised her. Nevertheless, she sat there for a few seconds, quite still, doing her follow through.

She exhaled, relieved. She ejected the empty case out of the chamber, which lively flew a foot in the air before falling to the ground with a plink on the cement. She set the rifle down on the table, and sat up. Silently they walked toward the target to see the results. When they came to it, they found it to be a perfect bulls-eye, right in the center.

Tails was proud. "Not even the best shot in the world can beat a perfect shot like this."

"That's because I had the best shot in the world to teach me."

"True," Tails admitted, "still, that was very good. But the way you can tell if someone's a good shooter is if they're consistent."

As it turned out, Cosmo was consistently accurate, grouping her shots with concise precision.

They spent the next couple of hours shooting various kinds of firearms, from black powder, to handguns. They even shot 12 gauge shotguns, which Cosmo needed help with because of how heavy and powerful they were. Tails stood directly behind her, his arms around her, holding her arms up. When she fired, she was knocked into his chest.

As they finished off the final targets, Cosmo asked, "Well Tails, what's next?"

"I don't know. I have the whole day off so we can do anything. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Tails laughed. "That won't do. If we can't figure out what we want to do, then maybe we can think of something we need to do? I would suggest something, but the only thing I needed to do today was practice shooting. Is there something you need to do?"

Cosmo considered for a moment. "Come to think of it, there is something I need to do. But no, I couldn't put you through that."

"What is it?"

"Dress shopping," an embarrassed Cosmo explained, "I went shopping yesterday with Amy and bought a few things to get by for now, but I need a couple more dresses, seeing as the one I'm wearing is the only one I have."

"Alright, let's go shopping, it may not be my thing exactly, but at least I get to see you try on pretty dresses."

Tails smiled while Cosmo blushed; she blushed in modesty for her modesty in appearance had caused her modesty in action.

The kitsune pressed a couple buttons on his wrist-com, and arm in arm they walked out of the structure of the shooting range. They watched as the Tornado landed on Autopilot; it stopped about fifty feet away, conveniently waiting as they approached.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

They walked into a small, posh (upper class) clothing store. They were immediately approached by a tall, thin, male clerk who looked to be about 20 years old. He was wearing bright, colorful, effeminate clothing which was very distracting. He greeted them in his ultra-high pitched voice thus, "Hello, welcome to Fine Fashions. How may I help you?"

"Um," began Tails, not sure what to say, for he knew little about women's clothing, or even clothes in general. He also didn't feel comfortable about a guy helping out with Cosmo's clothes.

Cosmo cut in, "I just need a couple of dresses."

"Ok," the gay fashion guru said, "what kind of dress would you be interested in?"

Tails and Cosmo had a surprisingly wonderful time shopping together. Tails was bored most of the time, but thoroughly enjoyed when Cosmo came out of the changing room in a new dress; in fact, you might say that this foxy fox enjoyed it a little too much.

When she would come out in something new, Tails and his new found friend, the gay fashion guru, would give feedback; Tails in terms of thumbs up or down, and the guru in terms of volumes of fashion expertise. At last they all agreed on two dresses that they all agreed suited her, and settled on the destiny of their decision.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

After dropping off the shopping at Amy's house, they took their leave to go to dinner, and then a flight in the still bright, but dimmer light of darker dusk. In the middle on their flight, Tails gently descended.

"What's going on Tails? Why are you bringing us closer to the ground?"

"You'll see," Tails assured.

He made a perfectly soft landing, smooth as silk, and rolled to a stop. They were in the middle of dessert salt flats, with nothing in their immediate presence but refreshing lukewarm air. They got out onto the ground, but not before Tails put on some curious music, which filled the air outside the open cockpit with its strange but melodic sound.

Tails took the hand of his partner, bowed and kissed it. "Would you care to dance miss?"

Cosmo curtsied. "Why, I think I might take a turn or two, even with you." She teased.

The thing was, this piece had a strange, curious effect on these two. It seemed to transform them, and their world into a different cosmos. It was _Tales of Vienna_ that Tails had put on.

And thus they listened to this song of benign sirens, the making of which was not begotten of Achelous, but of Venus: it was a spiritual sibling of Cupid, being a crafty shaft. It inspired them to see and live up to the beauty inside of the other. It was a spiritual, romantic experience as they waltzed around each other to the music. In fact, all romantic experiences are mainly spiritual. And so they became bathed in moonlight as their souls glistened by listening with their hearts. They listened whilst they waltzed to Strauss.

As the song at last ended, they realized they needed to return home, and so the two did.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The next morning, bright and early, Cosmo stood outside Tails house. She stood on the grass which glistened with morning dew, and remembered that night a few nights before with the fond feelings which are the consequence of worthy, wholesome, innocent choices which are invariably choice above all counterfeits of happiness: all effects of affectation.

She watched as Tails stowed his duffle bag in the backseat of his plane, and came back down to bid her one more sweet adieu. He strode up composed, but emotionally embraced her. He was in love, she was in love, and the two knew all this.

"I love you my dear, my sweet!" Tails began. "I won't keep you waiting too long in these woeful, war affairs. Actually, instead of being unhappy or dissatisfied with the present, let us thank God that  
the past and all its unhappiness are gone! Yes, let us give thanks to Heaven for that much! But please, let me find some way to send you gifts while I am away, so I can show my love for you."

"Tails, I know, I am certain that you love me, so it's useless to remind me of the fact with gifts you can scarcely afford on your military salary. I wouldn't like receiving them anyway since I know that they would cost you. No, put your money to better use by saving it for our future together."

"You're right," admitted Tails.

"I know you want me to think of heaven Tails, but to me, you are heaven, and what a sad thing life is when heaven is in site!"

Tails laughed. "Heaven? I am no heaven! You've been blinded by love my dear. Why do you love me anyway? What makes me deserve you?" Cosmo looked like she wanted to speak, but Tails continued, "I've thought about that a lot the past few days, and the fact is, I don't deserve you, it is because you are so good that allows you to love me so much, and see past all my many faults. But in any case, I have to go now."

Cosmo spoke forth quickly the words which were at the top of her heart, "Write to me often, and quite frankly. Tell me about your journey back to front, and about the course of your conduct when you arrive. And please, comfort, oh, comfort me if you can! I'll be sad when you're away! It's not self-love that prompts me to speak of my own comforting, but my love for you, which will never fade from my heart. Goodbye Tails. I'll await your letters with impatience.

Tails held her arms in his and gave her a peck on the cheek, then lips. He said goodbye with his eyes, for his voice was too weak to utter a peep. He turned, climbed inside his cockpit, and sped away.


	9. Chapter 9

**Syaoron: Though he's not here to claim it, this is another one of Blackstone's magnificent work.**

**Disclaimer: We neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Archie, or Sonic X**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mention**

* * *

A hustle and bustle of voices resounded through the chamber as its members conversed and got situated in their seats.

The room was large enough, comfortably accommodating the 100 members of parliament. It was shaped as a 45 degree isosceles triangle with the sharpest tip of the triangle as the head of the room where Sally the queen sat, with one-hundred old fashioned desk chairs all facing her throne. The floor was a rich deep blue carpet, while the walls were made of White Oak. The ceiling was plain white, but because it was fifty feet in the air you couldn't tell what it was made of. The only decorations present were a few paintings of landscapes, as well as former government leaders of great fame; not to say that they were always deserving of it however: nobody's perfect, let alone politicians.

At the appropriate time the gavel sounded assembly. "I call this meeting to order." Said Queen Sally; she had taken her seat on the throne. "The clerk will commence with the roll call."

The clerk's resonant, professional voice resounded through the chamber as he put on his best show at looking important and powerful. "Miss Helene Lieser." "Here", answered the lady. The clerk addressed the recorder, "Miss Lieser is present." The recorder officially took note of this.

The clerk turned back to his list and proceeded, "Mr. Jeffery Tucker." "Here", he said. The clerk again passed on the information to the recorder –not that he didn't already know –and the process went on. In fact, the process went on, and on, and on.

When this was finished, they went on to committee reports and other boring inconsequential matters. Two hours of their regular business later, and they were ready to proceed with other business. They had final discussion and voting on a bill defining goals and giving powers of regulating a specific pond to the Small Ponds Management Service division of the Department of Intelligent Aquatic Progress Equally Rationed.

After the thirty minutes which this took, Queen Sally spoke, "We will now hear from one of our most distinguished members and citizens, Mr. Ben Warbucks."

He rose from his seat in the head of the room, and addressed the council through the chairwomen who was also the Queen, Sally.

"My dear friends and Patriots, we have gathered here today to consider remedies for the ills of our country. Our nation is sick and depressed under the great magnitude of the war which has been arrayed against us. And it has been arrayed by an evil, corrupt, and depraved doctor.

"Our young men are dying by the day; some of our young women will never have the opportunities to be wives and mothers because of the great slaughter of those husbands who would have otherwise been. Old men suffer from lack of elderly care. Children go not only without toys, but sometimes without proper clothes, food, and education. Put simply, our economy lacks the resources to carry out both national defense, and necessary domestic spending.

"But what a wonder has our spending been! We are in debt to the tune of 80% of what we're producing as a nation: GDP. Our debt levels are rising sharply, and it is becoming difficult to find willing planets to borrow from, because they are beginning to distrust our ability to pay it back. We also have nearly no money in our vaults ready to spend. Yes, what a wonder our spending has been, but it still isn't enough: we need more.

"Luckily there is a solution which remedies this sick situation. We need a lender of last resort; in other words an institution which will lend us money when no one else will. We need money correct? Well who will guaranty that we will get it? Obviously if we do not control our own destiny, then someone else will."

There were light cheers from the skeptical, yet hopeful audience.

"That is why I see fit to bring up a course of action for your consideration, for without action there will be no change. This action is called M.M.M.: the Mobian Monetary Medium. It will be our lender of last resort; it will be the source of income to help supply our brave soldiers in the field; and it will be our means of buying bread. It is, in short, our solution."

Both parliamentarians and citizens watching in the gallery above stood up. Cheers and whistles erupted from the audience as they gave Warbucks a standing ovation. A standing ovation, yet he was not finished. When the excitement died down, Warbucks continued:

"It appears to be the will of the people, then, to establish the M.M.M.; hence I see fit to propose by the supreme will of the people, this bill: The M.M.M. Act."

He held aloft a small stack of papers to the trusting audience as they once again noised their approval. They voiced their support in the kerfuffle of joyful approbation. They looked on their new found solution - both the man and the document - with reverential awe.

Warbucks magisterially strode up to the Queen and formally presented her his bill.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." _**–Thomas Jefferson.**_

"We were not foolish enough to try to make a currency [backed by] gold of which we had none, but for every mark that was issued we required the equivalent of a mark's worth of work done or goods produced... we laugh at the time our national financiers held the view that the value of a currency is regulated by the gold and securities lying in the vaults of a state bank." **-Adolf Hitler, quoted in "Hitler's Monetary System."****) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 9**_

_**The Great Debate Begins**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It was three days later from the Parliament's last adjournment. On that occasion Mr. Ben Warbucks had presented a bill to establish the Mobian Monetary Medium, or M.M.M. for short. Today the parliament met again, and when the time on their agenda came, they began a discussion of the bill where each member of the Parliament had the right to speak once, and one time only on the proposal. Let's take a listen shall we?

"I consider this the greatest opportunity to be given to mankind in modern times", Mrs. Kay N. Zian stated. "An opportunity which comes to us from the knowledge of modern science; is there anyone here so arrogant as to pretend that they know more about economics than these scientific experts?"

As Zian concluded her speech, Queen Sally recognized another person, Peter Irwin Swiss, who then addressed the assembly.

"Mrs. Zian, you bring up the supposed infallibility of modern economics, but the whole goal of economic science, as I see it, is how do you satisfy unlimited demand with limited resources? The problem is, you can't; money must come from somewhere, it cannot come from nowhere. Money represents actual things; it is not some abstract concept.

"Playing with various numbers will not change the actual resources available to our economy. You cannot, with any amount of learning, stop the force of gravity, nor can you simply legislate the planets into being flat. There are some things which remain out of our power to control."

As Peter Swiss sat down, Sally said, "The chair recognizes Robert P. Murphy."

"Thank you your majesty. On this great occasion I feel it a duty to my constituents to speak a few words regarding the changing of our currency as proposed by this bill. It is proposed to change our currency from gold, silver, and bronze rings, to paper reserve notes. This is supposed to give better control over our supply of money.

"But this policy might lead to the supply of money being quickly increased or decreased. When the amount of money is changed, it causes problems. If we increased the supply, it would rob citizens of their money, because there would be more rings out there competing for the same scarce amount of resources; with so many rings out there, yet so few goods and services, a person would need a lot more rings to buy the same amount of stuff as before. What would that do to savings? It would diminish them.

"The whole point of establishing a Mobian central bank, as we have been told, is to increase investment, and to increase demand. But colleagues, permit me to ask, where does investment come from? It comes from savings; when someone saves money, it represents actual economic resources that are being saved.

"When someone takes their savings and lends it to someone to start a business for example, actual physical goods and labor is transferred from the lender to the businessman, the money merely represents these things. In investing, what money can buy is neither created, nor destroyed, it is merely transferred. It is lent because the businessman and the lender both agree that the business has a better use for it than the individual lending it.

"It works in a similar way even if a person merely stores his money in the bank and doesn't directly lend it out, because the bank will lend out a portion of its money at interest to those who wish to borrow. That's why a normal bank is able to pay people interest for keeping money in the bank; the banks are merely rewarding people for helping them invest. You see how well this works? Those who save, the banks, and business' all end up better off.

"The central bank would mess up this process because what it does is lend, and it has to get that money from somewhere. So where will it get a hold of it? It will take the money from other people."

There were boo's from the audience. But the speaker spoke even louder.

"I say it will take its money from other people, and that doing so will not raise production because you cannot produce anything by taking someone else's property. It will take it by increasing the supply of money as I mentioned earlier, which will make your money worth less. It will thus steal the value of your income and savings. The central bank will take the money, and lend it out without giving us ours back. How can that be a good thing for the economy as a whole, let alone us?

"One last point; one of the main goals of this proposal is to increase demand in the economy. What these men forget is what demand is limited by. You see, when I take my son into a toy store, I don't need to increase his demand: he wants me to buy him everything in the place! It's similar with people; we don't lack desire to buy more things, what we lack is the ability: the resources. I just don't see how this bank would increase the amount of resources in the economy by destroying the value of people's money by inflating it away.

"I would rather we stuck to our standard of precious metals with our standard of banking; our gold standard has worked for quite a while now, and I see no reason to dispense with it.

A man raised his hand and was recognized. He rose and spoke,

"The enemies of this plan have bashed it, but where is their plan? Where is their solution? Do they have a better course of action which our nation could take? They are limitless on criticisms, but short on wisdom: they have no answers, only questions."

There was loud applause at the speech.

Sally stated, "I recognize Mr. Robert J. Shiller."

Shiller spoke with a bright smile on his face, "Your majesty, ladies, and gentlemen; indulge me to wish you a good and pleasant evening.

"I am greatly saddened on this occasion that such distinguished leaders would be under such stress about what might prove to be our solution. It is my intention to cover what the previous gentleman said regarding people's demand.

"I believe that Mr. Swiss was confused as to the meaning of the word demand. What economists mean by demand is aggregate demand. Aggregate means a collection, and demand in economics means the amount people are spending. So you see; aggregate demand is the amount society in general is ready to spend at a certain moment. This is not a theory; it is a definite definition with true scientific meaning.

"When we talk about raising demand, what we're saying is that we're going to be, as you said, pushing future spending into the present. When we do this, when we spend more, it speeds up economic activity. The economy is like an engine, when people spend more, businesses produce more to keep up with demand, because you can't spend something that wasn't produced. Businesses hire more people, expand, and the whole economy grows.

"It is true, this is unsustainable if we do it too much for too long, but our democracy will appoint the best economists to the M.M.M. to act in our best interest. And why wouldn't they act in our best interest? They are citizens of this country for one, and for another they have no money to corrupt them, unlike corporations.

"It is now late and we must soon adjourn, so I will be brief, but I beg you to remember with reverential awe the wisdom of modern science. We are not in a dark age, nor even an enlightenment having surpassed all, having achieved a new age of knowledge. That is what we are embracing here by embracing the Mobian Monetary Medium: knowledge, intelligence, truth itself!

"Your majesty," he artfully said, "I rest my case."

Queen Sally rose and addressed again the assembly, "As the worthy gentleman has pointed out, it is late. We've spent hours debating this issue, and dozens of people have voiced their opinions. We will now hold a vote on the resolution: The M.M.M Act."


	10. Chapter 10

**Blackstone:** **It's another fantabulous, heart pumping chapter from Syaoron! By the way, I don't know what's wrong with you guys but I definitely **_**do not **_**write like Shakespeare. Syaoron on the other hand writes like… sheer awesomeness! This chapter is fun! Good job Mr. Syaoron!**

**Syaoron: Aw Blackstone, I'm flattered! But, I digress, on with the story and the disclaimer:**

**Disclaimer: We neither own nor claim anything from Sega or Sonic-X.**

**Claimer: We claim and own this plot and characters no affilliated with the above mentioned.**

* * *

In the late of the evening, with the clouds pouring their contents out unto the planet, a lone helicopter flew over the mountains and forestry. Oranges and purples painted the flighty skyline while the only sound to the passengers was the droning noise of the blasting blades, which at a distance only sounded as a whir, but to the present passengers it felt like an impressively oppressive alarm clock.

One of the passengers, our two-tailed kit Tails, was looking onward, toward their inwardly undesired destination. He felt a nudge in his side and he turned to find Sonic smiling at him. "What's the matter little bro?" he asked, intrigued by the sadness hidden in Tails' face, but which lay open–in his eyes–to the eyes of all. "Are you feeling down or something?"

The kit said nothing as he cleaned the barrel of his Colt M1911 and started putting it back together. The answer was simple; it was glazed all over his face… and all over the pages of his journal. But he looked down nervously, and said in an uncharacteristically small wimpy voice, "I forgot to clean my gun, I haven't done it in a while. I was kind of worried about it jamming seeing as it's really complicated."

Sonic knew that such a petty matter was just a cover, especially since he was already taking care of it. When people have an emotional objection to doing something, their first excuse is rarely the real one holding their heart back. Even if the person wants to be open and honest with you, it usually takes asking some questions to get to the heart of the matter. In this case, the excuse acted as an appendage to his hard exterior, but this exterior had been built up for years as a shield against loss. Sonic didn't call him out for his cover; somehow sensing that contradicting him would make the kit feel threatened. Instead he said, "Besides that, is there anything else bothering you Tails?"

"What if one of us doesn't go home, Sonic?" his soul spilled out, as a tear dripped down from deep inside the contradiction inside his secret soul, making its appearance on his cheek. It was a question he always asked himself. "What if–"

"You're not going to die, little buddy," the hedgehog assured him. From the other side of the copter, he could practically hear Shadow groaning from hearing the emotions, while Knuckles stifled a laugh. "You've got too much to live for; besides, I'll make sure you go home alright."

"That's not what I mean, Sonic!" he yelled back in a spurt of fear which revealed his true default emotion. "I'm not talking about me. What about you, or Knuckles, or Shadow? What if one of _you_ dies?"

Sonic sighed with the shake of his head. He knew his kitsune companion better than anyone, and it wasn't like him to be so worried… until recently. But still, it was just another stealth mission for information and sabotage. What could possibly be different about this mission than any other? "Look bud, we can take care of ourselves, we've been doing that for years," the hedgehog reasoned with him. "Besides, look at the glass half full instead of half empty: what if nothing bad happens? What if no one gets hurt? So you just be worried about yourself. Besides, you've got a girl to go home to."

Tails cracked; he moved toward the other side of the crowded craft, pouring out tears like he had at his loss of Cosmo. He looked not like the buff soldier, but like the little boy with little red shoes that bubbled up from sub-conscious memory into his present mind. "Sonic!" he cried out to his seemingly omnipotent Hero. He reached out and sank his mind into his chest, as the prodigal son returning from his Frightful master's pig sty: the Styx.

"What's wrong Tails?" Sonic asked as Tails fell onto the neck of his example, who was both his Brother and Father by proxy.

"Sonic," he said between sobs, "what _will_ happen if I do die? Will I lose Cosmo forever? Will she have to go through the same sadness as I did? Would she find a soul mate, or would she suffer the rest of her life without me?" Sonic let Tails go on all the while, for invariably unto us is a Brother is born who helps us through all our adversity. "Sonic what happens if we die? After loss in this life will we have to go through a loss of all life?"

Tails eyes searched the eyes of his Counselor for the sign of an answer. "Have faith Tails, and you will know. The answer is inside of you. Life is the only way you'll get answers about life." So the Spirit inside Sonic solaced. He left him with one final thought which always serves to inspire, "Tails, just remember Cosmo. Always remember Cosmo."

Tails had calmed down; he was comforted, and felt as though his tears had evaporated off of the most real comfort and confirmation in this life: it felt as the feeling of a warm fire which now burned in his breast.

But Tails perked up as he heard Sonic speak of Cosmo. "Sonic, I never told you that I'd been seeing someone," he muttered, confused that his surrogate brother would know that he and Cosmo had fallen into a love affair. "Who told you?"

The hedgehog quivered nervously. He cursed himself inwardly for letting his tongue slip his mind. "Oh, you know… " He tried to think, hoping there was some way to not tell which would involve not lying.

He was strangely saved by Knuckles, who was always spurting stuff out, "Tails, we all knew you two were in love with each-other since our voyage." Tails opened his mouth, simply speechless.

But before he could utter a word more however, they were approaching the infiltration point, so Shadow spoke over the com-link, "Alright you three cut it out. We've got a mission to start, so stay quiet."

The two brothers turned to one another and nodded. Tails took in a gulp of air as he loaded a magazine into his pistol and screwed on a silencer. Things were about to get as grave as the grave.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"We can no longer expect an Intelligence Community that is mostly male and mostly white to be able to monitor and infiltrate suspicious organizations or terrorist groups." –_**Jane Harman.**_

"We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavor to shine. We labor unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence, and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that imaginary existence." –**Pensées, by Blaise Pascal.** **) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 10**_

_**Infiltration with Dissipation for the End of Egg-Nation**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

A few robots surveyed the hills that surrounded their fortress. While essentially an abandoned castle to all those who merely viewed it from the outside, the expansive area was actually a base for Eggman's operations. This was one of the larger factories that created robots, and it was guarded all throughout the cycle of day through night.

There wasn't an inch of this area that wasn't under some kind of surveillance. Robots swarmed the area, ever watchful, ever wary. If even a single blade of grass was out of place, their video feed would catch it. Of course, they never looked for blades of grass. They were always searching for intruders. They were even skeptical of their own forces sometimes, just to be sure. Eggman learned about Productive Paranoia recently from a book by Jim Collins. Hey, Eggman reads a lot, how else did he get so smart?

On this day, aerial surveillance had picked up on a helicopter that was flying toward them. It had stopped a short ways away from the hills and then flown away. It was after the event that this patrol had been sent to investigate. As the quartet of robots scanned the area and reported a negative in enemy activity, they turned around and were heading back.

Maybe if they'd stuck around that extra minute, they wouldn't have been permanently deactivated. From behind, four figures parachuted in and tackled the bots, effectively rendering them helpless. Tails ripped the head off of his robot; just to be sure it was off-line. He then turned his com-link on and radioed into his fellow comrades, "Alright guys, it'll be a few minutes before a patrol comes to investigate. We better get a move on, quick."

Without hesitation, the four Mobians ran down the hill and at their quickest and quietest, attempting to get clear of any passing squads. As they neared the bottom of the hill, they came upon a line of broken down cars that were probably never cleared out. Using them to their advantage, the team dove down and used them for cover. "Are you sure this is safe?" Sonic muttered.

Shadow growled as he heard the child-like question. "Sonic, nothing we do that involves Eggman is safe," he stated blatantly while keeping quiet. "Why start questioning safety now, when we're at our best?"

"I don't know, something just seems off," the blue hedgehog skeptically observed.

"Oh, paranoia sets in with our fearless hero," Knuckles jabbed with a grin, while crawling along the ground and underneath the cars, toward the compound.

Tails instructed, "Everyone, stay close and follow me. Don't make a noise."

As they crawl through the dirt under the car, they battled their heartbeat's acceleration in a struggle for survival, under the possibility of getting caught. While they never were, this only raised their anxiety with anticipation. After finally reaching the end of the line of cars, the kit spotted a raised, wooden platform that they could sneak under. "Follow me," he hissed to his comrades while swiftly moving under the wooden platform.

He was soon followed by the spiny Mobians and they sneaked beneath the wood panels, out of sight of the robots above. He could make out bits of a conversation they were having…

"Is it true that Master Robotnik moved back into the base at Corona Mountain?" one of the robots asked the other in a synthesized monotone voice.

The question was answered in monotone as well, "I believe so. Recent records show that Master Robotnik has indeed moved to Corona Mountain. The database is normally not faulty either."

The former robot did a motion that appeared to be a nod and then walked away, back in its routine search cycle. Meanwhile, the infiltrators were astounded by that information. "Did you hear that?" Knuckles asked in the shock of luck.

Shadow simply remained indifferent and replied, "Uh, of course we heard it. We're in the dead of night and we're more silent than church mice. I think, unless you're deaf, you would probably hear that."

The echidna rolled his eyes while following along, simply grumbling under his breath. Tails picked up the grumbling and muttered, "C'mon Knuckles, keep it down. You're going to expose us, and if you do that, I swear I'll hand you in for interrogation first."

From there on out, Knuckles kept his tongue at bay while they infiltrated. While nearing the end of their planked cover, Tails noticed a small building which he recognized as the outer security lodge. "We'll go into that room. Silenced means of attack only."

The quartet, unseen by any robots, was soon alongside the door and its wall. After an affirming nod from all his comrades, Tails rapped thrice against the door, awaiting a response. When finally a robot answered, it was met with a silenced pistol to the face. All other hostiles in the room were put down just as quickly with the professional, speedy breaching. "Lock down everything for now," the kit ordered. "We don't need any unexpected visitors."

As the others locked down the area, Tails hacked into the security mainframe and began to delete a few files. When Sonic looked back to see his little brother deleting camera logs from five days ago, he asked, "Why are you doing that? Wouldn't you want to delete camera footage from today?"

"No, that's too obvious," he argued while deleting the feeds. "If I did that, they'd be all over us like a bee on a flower."

"Or, a certain fox on certain other flower," Shadow suggestively remarked.

"Shut up!" Tails barked. "No, I'm deleting the feeds from certain cameras outside the fort from the last five days to make it look like we have something to hide. It's a diversion basically, and for added emphases, I'll also shut those cameras off."

Four screens on the dashboard went blank and Sonic patted the kit on the back. "Great work, bud," he complimented Tails. "What's next?"

Tails thought on the next part of their plan before bringing the team back together. "Alright, the actual factory is in the basement. We'll need a way to reach there without two things happening. For one, we can't be caught or they'll lock everything down. And also, we can't just chaos control into there, since Eggman supposedly has new technology that senses the use of chaos energy. Luckily, I have a plan."

"Just get on with it," Shadow interrupted while tapping his foot. "We're losing moonlight here."

The kit sighed, continuing on with the plan. "Well, the only tactical entrance to the factory in the basement is through a scaffold. The problem is that it's been bricked off and triggering an explosion or impact of magnitude to blow a hole in that wall would arouse the whole base. Thanks to nature's grace today though, if we time our impact to the lightning, we can blow it open without being noticed."

The kit then rushed off to the elevator in the security room. "Now, c'mon!" he suggested while opening it. "We have to get there before the storm passes and our chance is blown."

The spiny Mobians took the suggestion and clambered in with him. Tails then pressed the 'fifth floor' button, and the elevator began moving up. "Uh, Tails," Sonic spoke up. "If the factory is in the basement, shouldn't we go down?"

"How did I know you were going to ask that?" the kit muttered, dragging his hand down his face before explaining. "You see, this is the easiest way to access the scaffold, since there's little enemy contact on this floor."

Sonic stares blankly at him, amazed at his amount of knowledge. "How do you even _know _so much about this place?"

"It's a useful thing called military intelligence," Tails replied nonchalantly. "It's not always an oxymoron, you know." With that said, the elevator doors opened and the quartet pulled their silenced weapons out. The action was proved unnecessary though, as the hall was devoid of enemies, just as the kit predicted. "What did I tell you?" Tails rhetorically questioned while striding overconfidently out of the elevator. It was Sonic's turn to grumble under his breath this time, while Knuckles made sure to shut him up.

Coming out of the halls, they entered the outer walls that connected to hallways. Battlements lined the edge of the fortress' walls and they easily shadowed the team of infiltrators. They sneaked around the outdoor area, downing any robots they happened to come by, though those occasions were not abundant. The rain was the most impeding of all things though.

They soon reached the next hall where the scaffold was, and they were all drenched from the rain. It was clearly visible, with a rectangular bulge from the center of the wall. "Alright Knuckles," Tails directed him as the storm continued to rage on outside. "I'm going to watch for lightning, and when I give the signal, I want you to punch a hole in the wall big enough for us to get through."

The echidna nodded and got into position, preparing to strike the wall at any given moment. He saw as another bright flash illuminated the room and Tails gave the signal, telling Knuckles to destroy the wall. He did so with gusto, smashing his fist into the wall and spraying debris down into the chambers of the scaffold.

The timing was perfect, with the sound of thunder covering up the loud impact. The quartet were now staring into the dark abyss of the scaffold; Tails, with a smirk on his face. "Great timing, Knuckles! If that worked, they'll have never heard the difference between the two sounds."

The echidna, upon receiving the praise, held his head high. "Well thanks," he spoke haughtily. "I think that I should be getting more props for all this strength. I trained hard for years to get it, you know. I think that more people should respect it, and–"

"Good God, make him shut up!" Shadow exclaimed, annoyed by the big-headed Knuckles. "When we give you no recognition, you complain. When we give you recognition, you get a head the size of the sun. Make up your mind, echidna."

Knuckles was proud, but not devilishly so. Rather he had a merely vain sort of pride which seeks to grasp at a feeling of importance which we all yearn and work for, but which does it in an annoying way; a way which annoys our own pride by undermining our own sense of importance. We all wish to feel important, and rightly so: it is a part of the divine nature of humanity to seek for dignity so that we may use it as a north star to live by.

Pride sets in when we strive to reach this in a way other than what is most appropriate. For Knuckles, it came because he valued himself based on the value others placed upon him and his unique gifts, so that instead of a sense of self-esteem, he was left with the empty bag of the opinions of others. Other people rarely even take the time to really notice, think, or talk about others in any other way than a negative one, so those with this allegiance to other's judgments of you will almost always go empty handed. Vanity means something that cannot last, and his soul was leaning on that which was vain: things which could vanish in a second.

A vein pulsed on Knuckles' forehead as he heard those words though. He would've lashed out at the black hedgehog had he not been held back by a glaring Tails. "You two, keep your act together!" he scolded them as he climbed into the scaffolding. "Now everyone, follow me… _quietly_."

They followed after the kit, using the thresholds in the scaffold to slowly descend further into the base. Though it took time, they made sure to be quiet about their infiltration. Any screw up would then make all their previous efforts not only futile, but destructive as well.

As they slowly descended, Tails stepped down each foothold carefully to make sure he didn't break them. He didn't account for one board that had already suffered from wear and tear, so he crashed right through it unexpectedly. He fell for a few moments before he felt someone grab his ankle. "You know Tails, you really should be more careful," Knuckles said while hoisting him onto the foothold.

The kit chuckled nervously as he looked back down, a thirty foot drop below him. "Uh… thanks Knuckles," he meekly gave gratitude to the echidna as they continued down the scaffold.

"No problem, Tails," Knuckles assured him with a thumbs-up. "Just be careful next time. I might not be so quick next time."

The kit gulped, realizing that he'd been lucky that time. If Knuckles wasn't as close to him as he was, he could've fallen to his death. He breathed a sigh as they all finally made it to the bottom, relatively unharmed. Before them was a lone door, hardly used from the looks of the rusty handle. "Alright, I'm going to pop a couple EMP grenades and disable anything on the other side," Tails declared. "After that, I want you guys to come in quick and we'll take out any stragglers."

After receiving a nod from all of his companions, Tails kicked down the door and threw the disrupting canisters into the room, emitting a couple of bangs and waves of energy. The quartet then moved in and saw that they'd taken out everything that was directly in their vicinity. "Wow, those EMP grenades are no joke," Tails mused while tossing an extra up and down in his hand.

Looking around the small room, they realized that this was only a tributary room of their actual objective. They had to move down the corridors to get to their goal. But when they arrived, they saw just how huge the factory was. The entirety of the factory probably took up the whole foundation of the building, from Tails' estimation, with enough machines building the robots to top off hundreds in a mere hour. "Alright guys, be careful of enemy contacts," the kit advised while sneaking by one of the machines. "Just plant your explosives and get out of there. We charge out through the front door after this."

With nods and affirmations through the com-link, the small team began planting the plastic explosives wherever was necessary. As they finally made it to the front of the room unnoticed, their explosives planted, Shadow kicked the door down. As they left, Sonic shouted out, "Sorry we have to leave the party so soon! I can tell it's gonna be a real blast though!"

The hedgehog rushed out with his group just as Tails flipped the switch, causing one giant blast to utterly destroy the underground factory. The explosion was of such magnitude, that the team stumbled upon feeling the shockwave, their hearts pumping as the energy hit them. While running down the hall and destroying their opposition, Tails pulled out his com-link. "Come in Command! Is the attack force organized?!"

There was some static before he received a reply. "This is Command; we read you Lieutenant General Prower," the operator calmly replied. "The assault force is assembled. Shall we order the attack?"

"Yes!"

"It's being done," the operator spoke his last before shutting off communications. At that, the kit began to hear shouting and firing from above and he knew it was beginning.

"Tails, what's going on?!" Sonic shouted over the noise of explosions and falling debris.

"The forces are beginning their attack!" the kit screamed back. "I didn't tell them to begin the air strike though! Those are supposed to happen _after _we get out!"

"Are you telling me that our own forces are going to crush us in their advance?!" Knuckles panicked as they made their way down the halls of the outside building. "What are we gonna do?!"

"I'm going to try and have them halt the bombing!" Tails replied while pulling out his com-link. "Command, what are you doing?! We're still inside, you can't bomb it yet!" He waited for a few moments, but received no answer. "Command, come in!"

Once again, the kit received no answer. In his rage, he ripped off his earpiece and threw it. "What's wrong, Tails?" Shadow yelled to him, wincing as a stone came down and sliced his shoulder.

"Command's not responding!" Tails yelled back. "We need a quick way out of here! Can you use chaos control and get us all out of here?!"

The black hedgehog smirked as he heard the request and pulled out his green Chaos Emerald. "I thought you'd never ask," he mused while gathering the energy before finally shouting out, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The quartet disappeared from the castle instantly, leaving the place to its ruin.


	11. Chapter 11

**Blackstone: Thanks reviewers, you make my day! In this chapter, I answer the questions that FeathersofMemory had about what Creams reaction to Tails and Cosmo's getting together has been, so I haven't ignored your request.**

**Fluffy romancy stuff for the first part of this chapter, then the rest will give you a tiny taste of what's coming up for the next half of this story. Sorry Misty, but there is still a little of romance left, don't worry though; you'll like what's coming up later on.**

**I know the language seems at times strange, but there are times when language becomes more refined and sophisticated and times when it becomes more simple and coarse. You probably noticed that the language of the characters became more fanciful when they were more emotional; this is because in cultures which have more of an attitude towards preparing for the future, the people tend to elevate and complicate their speech when they're more emotional. It's the opposite in cultures like ours (I'm talking about western society, not a specific country) which lives off of the inheritance of our ancestors. The language of the characters in this story will change somewhat later on to help reflect cultural changes.**

**I've said a lot, I should shut up now.**

_**Syaoron: Well then... looks like he covered almost everything except:**_

_**Disclaimer: We as a unity neither claim nor own material from Sonic, Sonic-X, or Sega.**_

_**Claimer: We as a unity own this plot and all character unaffiliated with the above mentioned.**_

* * *

My beloved Miles Prower,

I miss you so much! Your letters now are my only line to sanity, because without you, I think I really would go insane. When I wake up in the morning, I think of my love for you; when I'm working at the hospital treating patients, I think of the risks you're taking, so I begin to worry; when I kneel down at night by my bedside, I never forget to make your safe return the main object in the moment of my prayers; and when I lay down my head on the pillow, the future fills my present mind with the happy feelings of moments past.

It's in such nights that I realize that one must live day to day in order to get through some periods of life, but that you also cannot live without a hopeful vision of what the future will be like. We must always fill ourselves with hope. I know soldiers who let their experiences fill them inside and throughout with doubt; they hollow out inside, losing all hope for a better future, or even a future at all. These soldiers then lose all motivation; they give up on life, choosing mere existence instead; then they lose much of their ability to feel and empathize. It is truly tragic; the only reason why they preserve their own lives at all is because they fear death more than they fear life.

Then there are those who picture what they want their future to be, even if it seems hard or unlikely. They plant these seeds in their heart, then they bring along books back to the trenches, and begin learning what they need to realize their dreams. I can't help noticing that these hopeful people are much happier than the others, and that they always will be happier.

Happiness in sufficient reason to do anything, isn't it? Yes, I'm sure it is. After all, if happiness isn't the goal in life, then what is? But then why must we be separated for so long? You may not survive this war, but even if you do, many years might have gone by. Who knows how long this struggle will last? The news said that after over five years since the war began, little progress has been made in our favor.

Please don't think I'm trying to get secret information, which I know you can't share; but oh it's so hard! What if you fall out of love for me after years of being on the battlefield? What if I've changed so much by the time the war is over, that you won't think I'm pretty anymore? But worst of all, what if you die? I couldn't stand any of these kinds of risks, nor could I stand the waiting.

Sometimes in the hospital, I day dream about escaping all of this. I picture us leaving this horrible country behind, traveling in the Blue Typhoon to seek a new home in a much more peaceful place. There we could be alone with only our love between us. We raise a family like we've talked about doing someday.

Ow, these dreams, these desires hurt! Still, as we now know from Amy, Cream is a bit jealous of me. So where will her happiness come from? All well, it was only a school-girl's crush and one not very big. We should pardon her; it's just a part of growing up. Besides, she controls her own behavior, although she seems a bit awkward when talking to me. Still, she's tried hard to become very close friends with me again. This effort of course, has been successful, especially since she was one of my very best friends on our voyage years ago, and ever since I've come back, I've really wanted to continue that relationship.

Still, it was shocking when she didn't want to talk to me at first. And also when she was so upset one time when I tried to talk to her, that she was actually crying, and seemed to be quite angry. I thought that for some reason, she actually hated me. I thought she didn't want me to have come back. How relieved I was when we learned the truth from Amy. Do you remember that moment Tails? It was when we were holding hands on the sofa, just after we'd had our little foxy banter, and were told by Amy that she had something we needed to hear.

I love you and miss you so much, but now I have to go. I have a party to go to of which I'm the guest of honor. People have really warmed up to me because of my sacrifice, and because I'm your girlfriend; it's nice that they treat me so well. Still, why are some people often so mean to others, but then so nice to me? That's not fair, but I should end now.

Your best friend and lover,

~Cosmo of Greengate.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

My cherished Cosmo,

When I received your letter, I read it over and over. I love your letters; they are now my most precious possessions. Whenever I have free time, I read them over and over.

I must admit Cosmo, that I too have had such day dreams as yours, but I do not let myself think them anymore. I think of our future together, but not one where I dessert my fellow soldiers. Now I don't give a hoot about any of this patriotic mumbo-jumbo; you know, like those military recruitment commercials, with the Mobian flag, and marching band music playing in the background.

That stuff isn't real to me. What is real to me is you, my fellow soldiers who I'm working with, including Sonic, as well as picturing the faces of our future children and grandchildren. It seems strange to some to look that far ahead, but if someone doesn't look that far ahead, then they are living not only in the moment, but for the moment; they are living in themselves, for themselves.

Now to something more serious: your heart is hurting Cosmo! My being here is causing you a lot of pain! I can't stand it! I can't stand you getting hurt, especially when I'm the cause. I see the tear marks staining the page, and blotching the ink; these tears tear at my heart.

I too have thought about the length of the war keeping us apart. Luckily I'll occasionally get to visit you since the top brass always get a month's worth of R&R to keep us working at top notch. Do the regular soldiers get time off? Unfortunately, they don't get quite as much. People need regular breaks, both large and small scattered throughout at regular intervals to keep them sharp.

Sometimes you have to go slow in order to go fast. I learned this lately from a book about leadership, given to me by a higher ranking General, who is "grooming me," so to speak, for military leadership. Personally, military leadership seems more like military dictatorship, but whatever.

I like to be out there on the battlefield, more than over a map of a battlefield, making plans. Still, either might be just as useful since I'm good at both. I have been making some plans, but I could be making more if I stopped going out on missions. It feels cowardly not to fight. It feels shallow to manage others, rather than to lead them out to battle as equals. Still, I've decided to make this switch as you suggested. I did it mainly to make you happy, but also because I'd rather lead my future family than lead troops into battle. Family is a much bigger priority to me, and I'm not hurting my responsibility to the military anyway.

Now don't get me wrong, I've still got several critical missions to finish up before I stop all combat duty, but I'm almost done. I'll make sure to be extra careful in my final tasks; I'll do it for you, my darling.

Now is the heart wrenching part, where you speculate that I might fall out of love for you over the years, possibly at the sight of your changing appearance. Cosmo, there is a song I recently heard, it's now my favorite. Let me quote some of it to you, but let me tell you the story of it first.

A long, long time ago, a woman caught the small pox, and while she didn't die, it did disfigure her face horrendously. When her husband came home from his travels, a servant met him at the door and told him that his wife did not want him to see her again. That the ravages of small pox had dimmed her beauty; and that she didn't feel that he could ever love her again, if he saw her in the condition that small pox had left her.

But this good man, Sir Thomas Moore, was undaunted by that, and went up to the bedroom. And from outside the room, he could hear the quiet voice of his wife pleading with him not to enter. She begged him to please leave and not return; that if he were to see her, he could not possibly love her romantically anymore. She wanted to have his memory of her beauty preserved, and not have it spoiled by her present picture.

But despite all of his eloquent words -and he was a master of the language- he could not convince her to let him in and see her. So he retired to his study, and visited one of his next best friends: his pen. All throughout the night, he penned the lyrics of a beautiful song. He used an ancient melody. In the early morning, this concerned and loving husband slid the music under the doorway for his wife to play on the piano, while he sang the lyrics. His wife was so moved by it, that she opened the door, and more importantly, she opened her heart to her husband. From then on, their relationship continued even stronger than before.

Let me quote to you then, the second verse of, "_Believe Me if All Those Endearing Young Charms_."

"It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear,

That the fervor and faith of a soul can be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear.

No the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly lives on to the close:

As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets

The same look which she turned when he rose."

I love you Cosmo. I will someday kiss your lips and hold you in my arms. Someday my dear, every dear tear now shed will be returned tenfold with tears of rejoicing in our life to come. My darling, you are mine, so I will always be yours,

-Miles "Tails" Prower.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"In this our own Egg-headed Epoch we were promised abundance for all,  
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;  
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,  
But the Gods of simple Common Sense said: _"If you don't work you die."_

"There are only four things certain since "Social Progress" began.  
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,  
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wobbling back to the Fire;

"And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins  
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,  
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,  
The Gods of such Common Sense with terror and slaughter return!"

–**Slightly changed paraphrase (to make it easier to understand) of Rudyard Kipling's, "**_**The Gods of the Copybook Headings.**_**) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.:**_** a Prophesy Unto the Nations**

_**Chapter 11**_

_**Fort Cosmo**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It was 6:57 AM, and Laura Lister was just making final preparations to on air. Laura, you see, was the host of a show on Mobius Today. As the cameras faced her way, she put her primary mike on her lapel, and straightened the papers in her hands.

"Good morning," she spoke in a calm, professional, T.V. anchors voice, "today, in our time, an interesting change is being made to the Mobian financial system. Our nation's new central bank has begun the work of changing our currency. Across the country, stations have been set up to exchange everyone's gold, silver, and bronze rings for the new paper reserve notes known as Forints.

"Tonight is to be the grand opening of Fort Cosmo: a special government facility housing various vaults. It's named after Cosmo the Seedrian, and is being guarded by the military because of the valuables it contains. Forty percent of the precious metals exchanged for the forints are to be deposited in this fortress, just in case the central bank has need of them in an emergency.

"Today we'll be joined by the most respected critic of the new banking system- Ludwig von Miles- who thinks that the metal in this bank should be able to be redeemed with Forints. We'll also be joined by other experts in this one hour exclusive on the new Mobian banking system. Stay with us."

And with that, the intro played while Laura Lister turned her chair in the studio to face a big screen for her first interview.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It was the big night. Cosmo stepped out of the big black limo which had been sent to bring her in the proper style of an honored guest. The chauffer had opened her door, and now helped her out by her hand. Such petty pomp and circumstance seemed excessive to the last degree to Cosmo, who had ever become great by being the servant. Nevertheless, she played along as best as her uncomfortable self would allow, just to please her kind hosts. She thought that by accepting the invitation, she was just doing the proper thing, but she had never imagined that in giving an inch of courtesy, an ell would be given.

As Cosmo was escorted inside the building, she couldn't help but have an immense impression made in her mind. The structure was vast, encompassing several football fields of size in its cold, metal and concrete shell. It was gray and sterile, the sort of place that would make a typical doctor's office seem a family living room in comparison. In short, it was a hall of official power, seeming corporate, militaristic, and bureaucratic all at once.

Inside, there were several snide hides which masqueraded as ladies or gentlemen in form and figure, but in whose soul lay a near unparalleled exception to the rule of good will towards men. They stood in a circle, apart from the normal, open proceedings. There they talked about their role in arranging the building, and the storing of metal in Fort Cosmo. They seem quite happy at first glance, but if you looked them in the eye, you would see, no, you would feel in their smiling laughter, the cold, lonely feeling of those that try to comfort themselves in the face of empty deeds. What did they say you ask? Well, let's listen to them.

"Can you believe that the so called "watchdog press" has just taken our word for how much metal is stored in this place?" One man, a fat one said.

"Well, you know how these reporters are," the shrill voice of an antiquated woman spoke, "they'll usually behave just how we want them to. They have to behave well, if they want people in high offices of power, like us, to feed them little scraps of information. It is an annoyance that we have to give them any news at all, but it's a small price to pay to keep the status quo of our own power. Just look at the high courts, they're probably the best example of this model. Just look at how little information goes out, and how little the media actually puts any sort of pressure on them. It's almost like the media are a bunch of trained puppies, doing whatever bidding their master's desire."

"I wish it were more so," another man responded, but he was cut off by noise which announced the beginning of the ceremony. This inner circle of friends walked over to join the proceedings; to them, it was just another meeting, to Cosmo, it was the first and last formal meeting she thought she would ever want to attend. She cringed at the attention of many, seeking only the admiration of one.

Still, she did think these people incredibly kind, especially since it was Warbucks who arranged extra vacation time for Tails so he could be with her. 'Besides,' she inwardly convinced herself, 'anyone who likes Tails has got to be a good person. And weren't these people serving the country anyway? Isn't that what all good people are supposed to do?' But this made her wonder just how this central bank worked. 'Just how does it serve the country?'

But her thoughts were soon hushed by a rising Uncle Warbucks who took the podium on the rostrum. In his big booming voice, he pontificated from above to the press, and to the people watching on T.V.

"My friends, we are here on this magnificent, beneficent, and magnanimous occasion, to commemorate the opening of Fort Cosmo. This is a grand day which will live on in our history books for countless multitudes of our posterity. This grand experiment on our part is one not only of monumental scientific importance, but one springing forth out of the fountain of living water we call the Animal Spirit. It then, is an achievement of unparalleled mental and spiritual efforts, culminating in an elevation of life itself; an evolution of progress.

"But let us not now ungraciously fail to acknowledge the gracious namesake of this venture, a lady whom embodies the very ideals of this project; a lady who needs no introduction, the graceful Ms. Cosmo. "

At this point, Cosmo blushed, got up embarrassedly, and took a small, modest curtsey.

This large imposing man rejoined, "When we invited, you see, our great war hero General Prower to be the guest of honor, he humbly declined, so he wouldn't have to take time away from serving our country on the field of battle; how patriotic! He instead suggested we invite Ms. Cosmo to take his place."

'Oh, so that's how that happened!' Cosmo thought.

"I assure you however, that Cosmo is not just a replacement, but fully deserves the honor of being the namesake of so great an undertaking as Fort Cosmo. Her simple service as a nurse in our main military hospital is simply inspiring. It is the kind of example we need in our time. As Ms. Cosmo saved all of our lives, so too, I hope, will Fort Cosmo save our country!"

As Ben Warbucks wore on in his massive speech, telling stories of some of Cosmo's deeds, including her service in the hospital, Cosmo started tuning it out so she could think. 'How is it that they got these stories about me?' She wondered. 'But never mind that, I wish that Tails had taken this honor instead of me. Come to think of it, it was so nice of them, not to mention good of them to invite Tails as guest of honor and namesake.

These people- especially Warbucks- though a little long winded seem very nice. For one thing, they like Tails a lot, for another, they seem to say only kind things about people, and they are even working full time to serve and protect our country; not by being on the front lines, but by paying for what soldiers like Tails on the front lines need. In a way, their protecting Tails.'

And so Warbucks praised Cosmo with his words, while Cosmo praised him and the others in her heart. But soon Cosmo turned her attention back to the speaker.

"And so this bank will be a lender of last resort, which means that when a certain bank runs out of money and there is a run on the bank, that this institution will step in and make an emergency loan to the bank so it won't run out of the cash that people want to withdraw from their accounts.

"Another thing this bank will do is lend to our government, the funds it needs to fight effectively in this war. This bank will lend at lower interest rates so that it will be easier to pay off. And third, this bank will invest in our communities so that we may more effectively prosper. Thank you all for your time.

"We'll now take a look at the vaults, and see the countless pounds of precious metals that are stored here as our bank reserves."

And so this man, Ben Bernanke Warbucks, stepped back from the podium, strode over to Cosmo, and shook her delicate hand with a big triumphant smile on his face. All this was done while facing toward the photo snapping press of course.

He then took the hand of Cosmo, and in full public view, helped her down the stairs of the stand as if she was on a pedestal and he was showing off her as his ideal of human goodness. He did this so he might portray himself as being kind hearted and idealistic, for what we value is who we become, and what we appear to value oft becomes other's opinions of us.

He next showed the press a couple of small rooms filled with precious metals, and he made sure that Cosmo was in most of the pictures of these rooms. The next day, the front page of one popular paper even had a large picture of Cosmo, beautifully and dutifully sitting on a see through case of silver rings, holding a bar of gold in the lap of her dress.


	12. Chapter 12

**Syaoron: Alright, we finally got another chapter up! Yeah, it took us a while, but here it is! This will be my last chapter, so after this, Blackstone will be taking over with his fine skills and expertise.**

**Disclaimer: We as a unity neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Sonic Team, or Sonic-X. Please support the official releases.  
**

**Claimer: We as a unity claim and own this plot and all characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.  
**

* * *

The late evening and its occupants were just beginning to settle in. Our young kit—huddled under a destroyed Humvee—sighed. He shut his eyes and the rest of the world out, at least for a little while. It was one of the only warm comforts he could welcome in the middle of this cold, forsaking war. He reached through the pockets of his ballistic vest, pulling out a small sheet of paper. His tears had blotched out some of the words, but he could still recognize it as Cosmo's handwriting.

He clutched at the sheet of paper, crinkling it a bit, and he smirked. "Hey, Sonic," he called out to his companion as he kicked the door open and crawled out. "Shadow's taking point, right?"

The blue hedgehog nodded and offered his hand to Tails, helping the kit up. "Yeah, he's up on the roof of the hospital with the sniper rifle," he answered as he lifted a pair of binoculars to his eyes. The hedgehog eyed the ravaged city and cracked his neck. Sitting down in the gravel, he glanced at his surrogate brother with a chuckle. "We're in deep this time, aren't we?"

Tails only nodded as he looked over the destroyed Humvee and rejoined the world. Mobians from the armed forces rushed out into the battlefield, with commanders giving their orders to the platoons. Off in the distance of the burning buildings, Tails could see the silhouette of Scarab drones. Their long legs stamped around as they assaulted the city, raining terror.

"That's the understatement of the century," the kit finally answered. He held out his hand and Sonic tossed him a weapon. "M16A4?" the kit asked as he looked at the gun.

The hedgehog nodded as he pulled out his own M16. "It's all I could salvage," he said as he popped the breach bolt and loaded a magazine into the catch. He patted his buddy's back, walking further into the destroyed city. Through the heavy dust, Tails caught sight of him and followed shortly behind. "All the civilians made it out, right?"

"Yes, they all did," Tails answered as he slung the M16 over his shoulder, preferring his small and simple sidearm. The kit reminisced on what had happened before. They were supposed to evacuate all the citizens before the invasion began, and they had of course managed it… with barely any time to spare. Soon after, their Humvee was destroyed, and they were almost caught in the crossfire.

As they disappeared into the dust, Tails looked over to his buddy. "You ready for this, Sonic?" he asked.

The hedgehog chuckled at the question, as if he didn't even take it seriously. "You have no idea, Tails."

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**_"Free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction."—__**George W. Bush.**_

"_But the safety of the people of America against dangers from foreign force, depends not only on their forbearing to give just causes of war to other nations, but also on their placing and continuing themselves in such a situation as not to invite hostility or insult; for it need not be observed, that there are pretended as well as just causes of war."__—__**John Jay, Federalist Paper #4.**_**) ~**

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.: a Prophecy Unto the Nations**_

_**Chapter 12**_

_**Means to an End**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Shadow relaxed against an air-conditioning unit as he polished his Barrett M82 sniper rifle. It wouldn't be a while till he was given the signal, so he took his leisurely time to make sure that the rifle was in peak condition.

As he looked down upon the city, a golden glow being cast upon it from the dust in the air while the sun set slowly. The misleading glow could even give you a momentary sense of security. The black hedgehog shook his head with a groan as he attached a dual-band scope to the sniper. It was gonna be another one of those days.

"War is such a silly thing," he said as he looked down upon the ruins. "Don't you think, Knuckles?"

The red echidna on the other side of the AC unit perked up his ears. "Look at you, Shadow," he said almost mockingly. "Finally coming out of your shell and into the social world?"

"Just answer the question."

Knuckles shrugged and stood up, walking over to Shadow's side. "What makes you think that war is silly, Shadow?" he said, just to amuse the self-declared _Ultimate Life form._ It wasn't often that the hedgehog wanted to make casual conversation, so he wanted to see what Shadow had to say.

Shadow shrugged, noticing that there was some movement among the rubble. He disregarded it though, noticing that it was just a few crumbling pillars. "I mean, I know defending against an attacker is necessary, but why did they have to start all this? This wasn't a very prosperous city; they hardly had enough money to build this hospital. They can hardly feed their children, and so many are now dying of starvation or lack of shelter. It seems such a waste."

The echidna appeared somewhat unsettled by the sorry tone that Shadow had used. "What's your point?" he dared to ask, as he cracked his namesake.

"Well, think about it," Shadow offered the echidna for a moment as he unclipped a grenade from his belt. Knuckles almost dove for cover until he noticed that the pin was still attached. "While these children die from starvation because they have no money, billions are spent on making bombs and weapons of mass destruction that create death showers."

Knuckles blinked as he took the words in, a sad look glazing over his eyes. "When you look at it that way, war really is a waste," he admitted.

Shadow reflected, "Money corrupts people. The moment you add money to the equation, it is corrupted. It works that way for government regulators, military, schools, everything. I've yet to know a single person to openly deny money without being under some kind of pressure."

Knuckles shook his head after having heard that. "You clearly never knew Tails, then," he simply stated. The echidna had known Tails almost as much as Sonic and he'd known Tails to openly deny money. If anything, the kit was the purest person he'd ever known.

Before Shadow could inquire about it, their conversation was cut short as a green flare was shot up into the air from below, its piercing light nearly blinding Shadow as he caught sight of it. "That's the signal, Knuckles," Shadow said as he heaved his sniper rifle over his back. "I'm going up to the next location. I suggest you regroup with Sonic and Tails."

The echidna nodded and dived off the building, gliding as his spines caught the wind. Shadow simply smirked and took out his Chaos Emerald, teleporting to the next destination.

+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +

It wasn't long before Knuckles met up with Sonic and Tails; landing smoothly next to them while they hid behind cover. The rest of the forces were advancing before them, occasionally firing at the robots in the midst of the dust. "Did you remember to bring the mortar launcher?" Tails asked the echidna as he pulled out a satchel, filled to the brim with mortar shells.

The echidna nodded as he unstrapped the tubule from his back and planted it on the ground in a tripod. "Hand me one of those shells, why don't you?" he asked. No sooner than he requested, Tails handed a shell to the echidna and he prepared to drop it in, waiting for bearings.

Sonic, the official spotter, took out his binoculars and looked down the battlefield. "15, 26, 41," he simply said, allowing Knuckles to adjust the bearing and he dropped the shell in. Instantly, the mortar was launched and it landed in the midst of a bunch of bots, strewing various metal parts about the battlefield. "Nice shot, Knuckles," Sonic complimented him.

Tails nodded and picked up the satchel, motioning for them to move deeper into the battlefield. After diving behind cover and setting up once more, Sonic began relaying more coordinates to Knuckles while Tails simply peered over cover.

It'd be his designation to take out any hostiles that targeted them. He breathed and aimed down the iron sights of his M16, precisely downing the enemies in the distance. He could hardly hear the ear-splitting cracks of mortars in the distance, as his vulpine vision helped him spot enemies to shoot. He frowned as he reached for his belt to reload the gun, and he found nothing.

Looking over desperately to Sonic, the hedgehog tossed him an extra magazine which he used to reload the assault rifle. He then gave a quick glance back to his satchel and frowned. "Sonic, we're out of mortars!" he shouted to him.

"You don't say?!" the hedgehog shouted back as he discarded the satchel and reached for his own M16, joining Tails in his firing escapades.

Knuckles soon joined them and he dug in with them, unslinging an M134 Death Machine from his back. A box of ammunition at his hip was soon fed into the rotating barrels and he let loose the lead. "How do you like that?!" He shouted out in dignity as he sprayed bullets into the enemies.

It wasn't long after Knuckles' maniacal bullet spraying that a great explosion lit up next to them. Tails' ears rang with sound for a moment before he analyzed the situation and grimaced. "Knuckles, your mini-gun gave us away!" he scolded him as he dragged the echidna away from the concentration of rocket-fire, with Sonic soon to follow.

"Down the alleyway," the kit hissed to them as he made sure they weren't followed. It was bad enough that they had been found out once. He didn't want them to be found again, especially when they were supposed to be carrying out the key part of the mission. He noticed that Knuckles was wearing a look of gruff disagreement, probably due to the accusation, as Tails surmised.

The echidna only huffed and shouldered the mini-gun, pulling out his silenced Five-Seven pistol. "Sorry…" The echidna reluctantly admitted as he moved down the alley. Sonic and Tails nodded to one another and took their own silenced pistols out, following behind the echidna.

Turning a careful corner, the echidna held up his hand, cautioning for his two companions to stop. At the immediate end of the alley, a robot stood, as if guarding the small sector. A stillness hung in the air as they made completely sure that they wouldn't be caught. Knuckles brought his hand up to his ear, activating his communicator and speaking into it, "Shadow, we've got a tango down the street; end of our alley. Take him out, would you?"

A moment of scrambling could be heard on the radio before a reply was heard. "I've got it in my sights, Knuckles," Shadow said quietly. Not a moment later, the hedgehog contracted his trigger finger. The resulting bullet created a cannoli out of the robot's metallic body, rendering it offline. "Happy now?" Shadow mocked the echidna as he relocated his position.

"Like it's Christmas morning," Knuckles replied with a roll of his amethyst eyes. The trio rounded the corner and walked ahead, into the darkness of the alley. "Thanks for the assistance, Shadow. Watch the area."

With that, Knuckles turned his communicator off and smirked to Sonic and Tails. "C'mon you two," he urged them on enthusiastically as he jumped over a dumpster. The two were very much familiar with their red echidna companion's eagerness to jump straight into the heat of battle, and they could see the anxiety eating away at their comrade almost.

"Calm down, Knuckles," Tails advised him as he crept around the corner, drawing his silenced M1911 pistol and downing a nearby bot. "We're supposed to be quiet, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, Tails; I hear ya," Knuckles grumbled while glancing across the alley. The echidna slowly cracked his knuckles as he looked at the wall marked with a thin, black X. "This is the place?"

"Yeah, it's right here," Tails affirmed and he reloaded his pistol. A sense of anticipation overwhelmed his senses and the kit grinned. "Go ahead, Knuckle. Do what you do best."

"And what do I do best?" The echidna said haughtily; fishing for some praise. He blinked when a short silence arose and he continued, "The correct response to that is '_you turn bricks into dust, Knuckles! You're so awesome!'_"

"Really?" Sonic poked fun at Knuckles. "You seem to make a pretty big idiot out of yourself, too."

The instant Knuckles heard Sonic's words, his cheeks enflamed with a color as red as he was and he clenched his fists and teeth. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that, hedgehog," he responded. Knuckles' spiteful glare was redirected to the wall and he gave out a war cry, launching his powerful fists into the wall, causing it to crumble. With a malicious smirk, Knuckles looked back toward Sonic and joked, "You're next."

The hedgehog only laughed off the threat and patted Knuckles on the back as they made their way into the building, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. "Nice work, Knux," Sonic complimented the echidna as they snuck in.

No sooner than that did Tails find an air duct. He plied the panel off, urging them to get in quickly before he placed the cover back over the duct, as though they were never there. "Alright, you two remember what we're supposed to be doing?" the kit questioned them as they relaxed against the walls of the air duct.

"Of course," Sonic said as he stretched his arms. "We get you to the control room, you hack the mainframe, Eggman losses a lot of his forces, and we all get drunk the next night."

Tails raised a brow to his surrogate brother and drew out a sigh. "Um, I'll leave the drinking part for you," he simply said as they crept down the dank air duct. They could feel the circulating air brush over them as they passed through, a great silence striking them. They suddenly paused at an intersection, drawing out their moments as Tails swished his head back and forth. "Hey Sonic, you remember how to get around the ducts… right?"

"Wait, you mean you don't?" The hedgehog asked, scratching his head in mild confusion. "I thought that was your job."

Tails groaned and dragged his hand across his face. "Knuckles, tell me you remember the direction we're supposed to go," he check with the echidna.

Knuckles rolled his eyes and crawled past Tails. "Well, since you two can't remember, I'll take point," he said. He hated having to do everything by himself. He glanced to the left and began to crawl in that direction. "It's this way, by the way."

A bead of sweat slipped down Tails' forehead, suddenly remembering the traps that waited for them. "Knuckles, you know that there are traps we need to avoid too, right?"

The red echidna paled and his eyes widened. He emitted a nervous chuckle and turned back to his two-tailed companion. "Uh… traps?" he asked, a bit shocked.

"Yeah, you know," Tails seemed to recant a list, as though from memory. "Infrared laser alarms, smokescreens, drones; you name it. I hope you know the route _really _well Knuckles."

The echidna guardian chuckled a bit more as he continued to crawl along the path, hoping that he would be avoiding any sensory equipment. While creeping along, they came to a grate below them, under which revealed the control room. "See, I told you I could find it," Knuckles boasted while he straightened his back proudly. "Not a single trap either."

The echidna seemed to have spoken too soon, as straightening his back had caused his head to pass right through an infrared beam, tripping the alarm system. "Nice work, Knuckles!" Tails chastised him as he tried to rip off the grating. He soon noticed a yellow gas pouring out from the pores in the duct and he gasped. "Get through that duct! It's tear gas!"

Knuckles crashed his fist through the grate, destroying it and allowing them to escape. At that time though, Tails happened to sneeze, drawing a bit of the Xylyl Bromide into his lungs and he coughed heavily upon inhaling it. He fell unceremoniously into the control room and clutched his head as his vision swam.

"Tails, buddy, are you okay?" Sonic asked, kneeling down to help his little buddy. The kit stumbled to his hands and knees while Sonic helped him up. "C'mon buddy. You have to hack the system."

Sonic supported Tails as he tried to stand, the kit having vomited on his first attempt to rise. He stumbled over to the keyboard, screens flashing in front of him and swimming in his vision as he tried to make heads or tails of the situation.

Hoping that Tails would support himself, Sonic and Knuckles took point at the door, making sure that no unexpected company barged in on them. Meanwhile, Tails' sense of vision somewhat returned to him and he began to type in type in various commands in a prompt. Soon, he had overridden the system and taken the necessary precautions. "There we go," he said with a sort of slur in his voice as the gas worked its way out of his system. "That should do it."

Knuckles smirked and heaved one of the kit's arms over his shoulders so he could support Tails as he got back on his feet. "Careful when you walk, kid," The echidna warned him. "I don't want you tripping down the stairs or anything."

Tails only chuckled as he saw Sonic clear away the lines of enemies. "The robots in this base must be run by an alternate server," he noted grimly as he took to his feet again, the poison having run its short course. He gripped the pistol at his hip and aimed it at the nearest bot firing a few rounds into it, to shut it down. "Looks like we're getting out the old fashioned way."

Sonic smiled as he ran headlong into battle, curling up into his signature spin-dash and furrowing through the robots. "Just like old times, huh Tails?" Sonic questioned after coming out of his dash and firing a few rounds on the remaining robots.

Tails smirked and brought his pistol to bear, firing at the animated machines. "Just like old times, only with guns this time," Tails added and affirmed.

They soon located the front door of the base and Knuckles promptly smashed it down, revealing the raging battlefield. One side held the Mobian military while the other side had a field of artificial soldiers.

Knuckles reached onto his back, drawing the M134 mini-gun and revving it up with a delighted smirk on his face. "Let's do this," he said as he fired the mini-gun, spraying ammunition across the field and letting the robotic corpses drop like flies.

"Great job, Knuckles!" Tails yelled as he pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it out into the open. He smirked as the spray of flame and shrapnel from his explosive, incapacitated many of the mechanic infantry. "Push the assault!" he ordered to his compatriots as he pointed against the robots. "Drive them off and clear the way!"

The kit would've liked for the assault to go just that simply; that they would easily overpower the robots and reduce them to scrap metal before annihilating the base. With Eggman controlling the chess board though, he knew it was never that simple, and was unsurprised when a new breed of robot appeared on the field.

It started out with one of the little drones; a small, bird-like, rocket propelled drone. He noticed that it flew over the battlefield and everyone dropped their guard, wanting to see what this new bot would do.

A bad move on all their parts.

One soldier bent down to pick up his dropped gun and the drone immediately picked up the motion, aiming toward the moving Mobian before firing its thrusters and crashing into him, igniting its suicidal explosion. Tails gritted his teeth as remains of the unsuspecting soldier were left in puddles.

As if it weren't cruel enough for just one of the bombing drones, a whole swarm of the bots suddenly arose from over the hill. They circled overhead just daring them to make a move. Riskily making his decision, the kit looked up into the air and yelled, "Retreat!"

Immediately, the masses of Mobians began to run in the opposite direction, firing their guns up into the air in hopes of destroying one of the mechanical bombs-on-wings. Sonic waved to Knuckles and Tails as he ran amok, drawing a few of the drones on his tail. "You two, we're acting as decoys!" he ordered them as he ran.

Tails nodded to Knuckles and the two also ran around, drawing the drones in and picking them off with their rifles. _Darn, these bots are quick, _Tails analyzed. He noticed that the drones easily followed him to and fro, weaving in and out of his movement path.

As he sloppily fired his pistol into the swarm behind him, Tails groaned. "I can't shake 'em!" he shouted as he tried to lose the drones that followed him. A sudden idea hit him as he looked over to Sonic who was a ways off. "Sonic, do you still have that EMP grenade I gave you?"

The blue hedgehog, while during his run, nodded and took out the small blue canister, tossing it to Tails. With a slight spin to adjust his motion, Tails caught the grenade and pulled its pin, counting to three, and then tossing it into the swarm of bots. With the explosion that ensued, the drone's had their circuits shorted out, and they fell in heaps like the rain that falls on a humid day.

Sonic, having understood the plan, pulled the pin on his own EMP grenade and threw it into the swarm that was hunting him, creating similar results, and causing them to crash to the ground.

"Uh, a little help here?!" Knuckles yelled as he ran around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to avoid the bots that chased him. "I don't have any of those EMP thingies!"

Tails smirked as he watched the bots chase Knuckles around, laughing a bit before he pulled the pin on a grenade from his belt and tossed it into Knuckles' pursuers. With the blast came the fall of the mechanical suicide bombers as they crashed in a pile.

In the moment of calm, the kit looked around and smiled, knowing that the rest of the enemy robots had been reduced to scrap. "Round up the infantry," Tails ordered Knuckles. "We're pulling out. Mission is complete." Knuckles nodded and walked off without further ado.

Tails then glanced over to Sonic. "Alright Sonic, I want you to call in evac," he requested as they walked back. "We need to get the wounded out of here. They won't do us much good dead."

Sonic was about to send the call in when the kit heard a familiar, high-pitched beep. He glanced up in the direction of the noise to find one lone drone beginning to target them, diving down to catch them. "Sonic, get behind me!"

Before the hedgehog could even comprehend his situation, he turned and noticed the kit guarding him, his tails crossed over his body for protection. The explosion from the drone blew Tails back and into Sonic, who grimaced at the bloody sight of his buddy. Though the fox's namesake had absorbed most of the blast, he was badgered with burns and blood on his yellow fur.

With little time to spare, Sonic opened up his communications channel and broke through to command. "We need evac, stat!" he yelled into the device as he held in his arms his short breathing brother.

Before long, coordinates had been exchanged as well as the short-timed ETA. Soon enough, helicopters came flying in to provide evacuation for the soldiers. Knuckles, Shadow, and Sonic carrying Tails, piled into the same chopper. Sonic only hoped, as they flew off, that his little buddy would make it, and if not, that he could accept his loss.

We cannot escape death, but for the present we are alive. Dying can be a sweet sunset of life, where the light of our computing minds are snuffed out in place of another kind of thought: a deep soul searching, feeling for answers to the heart's questions, and yearning for the overpowering arms of forgiveness.

What we love most is to be loved, because it gives hope to our hollow souls that we are not beyond repair, but all we really want in life is forgiveness.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Syaoro**__**n: Alright everybody! It's Syaoron here with a brand new chapter of MMM, courtesy of Blackstone! Alright! *ahem* **_

_**Disclaimer: We as a whole neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Archie, Sonic Team, Sonic X, or anything affiliated with them.  
**_

_**Claimer: We as a whole claim this nonprofit, fan-based plot and the characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.  
**_

* * *

Cosmo had been sitting in the living room, reading a book, when Amy came in with worry. With neck held up, but eyes turned down, Cosmo raised them from the ground, and used them to inquire.

"Cosmo!" she cried, "Cosmo, Tails is hurt; he's at the hospital right now!"

Cosmo couldn't think, except to ask, "The hospital where I work, every day?"

"Yes; please come! Just before he went into surgery, he asked for you. Sonic found me and sent me to get you. Don't worry Cosmo, I'm sure he's alright, but he's badly hurt, that's what I heard. He's having surgery right now, but we can wait till it's over."

Cosmo got up and grabbed her coat. She followed her friend out the door, with a worried and frantic walk. She had no thought of the long wait which surely awaited her at the hospital, she only thought of the proximity between her and Tails, and felt as though this were the only connection between life and death.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"It is through reading the great books, perhaps more than anything else, that a person deeply learns to see through any and all propaganda." _**—**__**Robert M. Hutchins, the Great Conversation.**__**)**_

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.: a Prophecy Unto the Nations**_

_**Chapter 13**_

_**An End in Itself**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Cosmo had been crying; her soul searching for faith in the future, and its answers of hope. It was then her heart answered her: Tails woke up from his sleep.

She wiped her tears away with fright. She did not want Tails to see her heart torn apart.

As Tails turned and opened his eyes, barely a thought came to his mind. He saw swirling blurs of light right away, but it was a few seconds till his mind could start to search for what was happening. The very first thought that came was the realization that his mind was under the influence of some sort of drug. Next, his attention started to go outward, and soon he noticed a face adoring him. It was a beautiful face, he felt, but what was this person doing, and why? She looked on him as if he was an angel of some sort, yet that's just how she seemed to him. He felt that someone so wonderful should be an object of respect and love, so why did she seem to give this to him? He wondered if there might be a connection held there.

All this was dispelled from his mind when he finally understood what made this girl special, all this by simply remembering who she was, and also who he was.

"Cosmo!" he croaked out. He found his voice was dry, and his mouth felt like he'd gagged on at least a half-dozen cotton balls.

"Tails!" she stood up. "You're okay!"

His outburst had instantly taken away the illusion of strength which came from his intent focus. He felt his consciousness instantly wane. He took a deep breath to clear his mind, which helped him but little.

Cosmo guessed what was going on. She'd been a nurse long enough, and her nature was ever tuned to the comfort of others. She quickly got him some chips of ice in a small cup, held it to his mouth, and lifted the cup up. "Now try to take it easy, and know that you're safe. What else do you need?"

The small chips of ice slowly melted in his mouth, relaxing his oral muscles and the rest of his body. It wasn't enough, and now knowing the feeling, he wanted more, more than ever. Still, it was easier to speak and speak softly, which he did, but also quietly: "I need to know what's happening. And what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, well I'll tell you then, but please relax Tails, I know you're restless, but that's just what you need: _rest."_ She spoke so softly the word rest that it put him at ease in an instant. He loved her voice, which soothingly began again to speak.

"Amy told me you were injured, so I came. Apparently, after Sonic made sure you arrived here safely, he found her, and asked her to pass on the message to me, so I came immediately. I had to stay in the waiting area for a while till the surgery was over. Oh, Tails, it took such a long time!"

This exclamation stirred something in Tails' heart, but in the confusion of his mind, he couldn't tell what it was or from whence it came. He only knew that it came from Cosmo's heart to his, and that it had an anxious feeling to it. He couldn't name it, but it was the feeling of longing love, and the long wait to feel the longing of that love: the suspense from times of contemplation in days and years past.

The eyes of Cosmo were watery, and her voice in took in a breath full of emotion as she continued to speak.

"After the operation was over, the doctor- who I knew- came over to me, and explained what happened, and happily, that you were ok. I was relieved, and my fears died down, but the pain of knowing your injuries replaced all the bad feelings which went away.

"I asked if I could see you. The surgeon consented, and I came in. When I saw you, I shed a few tears at the state you were in; but I had to smile, knowing that you would get through it. I then asked the doctor in charge of you if I could be your nurse. And guess what? He made the arrangements!" Cosmo smiled at this last bit, and so did Tails. At this time they finally felt a bit of pure happiness, the kind which makes you smile naturally, with emotion, and no thought. Hope invigorated their impatient hearts, and enlightened their tired minds.

There was a pause between them. Tails thought of something, and chuckled at it. "That's the only time I've heard you speak so much at one time!" he said.

"Well I had to. Otherwise you wouldn't settle down and stop asking questions!" She was only teasing, but then she added, "You really do need your rest, you know."

"I know; but first, I just want to know what happened to me."

"Do you remember the blast?"

"There was a blast?" Tails was genuinely confused.

Cosmo sounded sad as she then answered his question. "Yes there was. The memory will probably come back soon, and will not be pleasant to think of."

Cosmo recounted how Tails received his wound, emphasizing that he had done it to protect his friend, and then she told him about his medical condition.

"You had lost a lot of blood from your wounds. The medics and field doctors tried to stop the bleeding, but they had to replace a lot of blood since your wounds were everywhere, and they couldn't bandage them tightly because doing so would push the shrapnel wounds in further. When you came in, they had to constantly replace your blood, since you were still bleeding- even at that point- and they had to open you up to remove the shrapnel which covered your body.

"Removing the fragments, took a long time, especially since they had to shave the hair of a lot of you, in order to reach the fragments."

At this instant, Tails' eyes widened in surprise. He looked down at himself, under the covers, and although most of his arms and torso where bandaged, he saw patches of bear skin. This scared him most of all, for some reason. It made him feel venerable, naked, even. He felt his head with his hands, and knew they'd shaved there too. While he was checking these things, in his light headed state, he noted the needles and tubes stuck into his arms.

Cosmo continued, wanting to get this over with, "They injected as much hydrocortisone as they dared- to help your body deal with the stress. But the stress wasn't helped by a neck injury, and the concussion you received by the initial blast.

"The doctors did a good job on the surgery. It's a miracle you're alive."

"What's going to happen to me?"

"You're going to be fine; it's just going to take a long time for you to heal."

Cosmo picked up a sleeping pill, to administer it to her patient.

"Just one more question. When am I going to be able to go back to military service?"

She had dreaded this question. She sighed, "In about two months we'll know." As an afterthought, she added as sternly as she knew how, "For now, you aren't allowed to even think about the military."

He felt deflated, now that he could not fulfill his responsibility, but smiled for her sake. He took the sleeping pill, hoping she would not wake him later to make him take another. He settled into his pillow. "Am I allowed to think about you, instead, nurse?"

She smiled, and it came out in her voice, as she said, "I think so, Tails." She bent down over the bed, and slowly, softly kissed him on the lips. She whispered, "I missed you."

"And I love you." He smiled, closing his eyes.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

It was true, the lad was forbidden from involvement in anything related to the military, but that did not mean he couldn't have access to the news, as long as he promised to avoid any story related to the war. This was a promise he solemnly made. The news of the day seemed to him to be his only link to reality- other than his girlfriend- who could not always be with him, having to attend to other patients.

He was bored out of his mind at times, when he was alone, but he was a reflective sort of person, and needed periods of quiet solitude, especially after what he'd been through. The experience of the injury and the ensuing pain had quietly come crawling back into his mind. This memory scared him, but only because it gave him a better realization of the horrors that life could contain. These pains awakened in his mind a recognition of what some very unfortunate souls- some of whom he'd known in life- had gone through. This new perspective- the depth of pain possible in life- sobered him, and oddly made him yearn for a further taste of reality.

What reality meant to him was life; including life's relationship to death. Hence why he was tempted to ask about the war efforts, but since he'd promised not to, the next best thing was information regarding how the economy was doing. He often flipped on the news, and even borrowed a book on economic theory from Cosmo, which had been given to her by Uncle Warbucks who was the author.

In the first few days since his surgery, he'd learned a great deal about what had been going on while he was on the battlefield. The Prime Minister, Teddy R. Bushachio, had appointed an expert economist named Alan G. Friedman to head the board in charge of M.M.M. policy. This newly formed board had taken on three tasks: stabilizing the value of the new currency, buying government bonds to help fund the war, and lending money to large banks in order to stimulate business investment.

Tails couldn't quite figure out where the banks' money had come from, but assumed that this was a complicated matter, and would be too hard to comprehend to ever be explained on the news. Tails knew he was smart, but he wondered if he could ever figure out how these top scientists did it. All this gave him a great feeling of pride in humanity and reason, because he knew that- although the economic mechanics behind how the bank worked were complex- that the theories these people presented made perfect sense.

Not only did it make sense, but it was working. The new bank's success was loudly lauded by all around the country. Austerity ended; prosperity pleased the passions with an end of preparation, and soon beginning a soothing expression that was felt from the relief of room to breathe new air: the release of conserved resources. It was like putting new wine in an old leather bottle: as the new wine aged, the leather around it shriveled and shrunk until it broke, releasing the liquid, and the excuse to conserve it, until more precious.

People were shopping again, mainly for luxuries, which they missed. This pleased everybody, for they felt they were getting a new freedom in their new options. The military was getting well stocked too, and the feeling of patriotism mixed with the fervent frenzy of shopping.

Almost a month had gone by, and Tails was still lying on his hospital bed, still attended by Cosmo.

One day, he was watching the Sky News Channel- sometimes called "Fox News," due to its owner's race- and an interesting interview came on. The host first introduced the topic by saying, "while most of us are enjoying the recent economic boom, and expect it to continue, there are a few who fear that it cannot last. We're joined for debate and discussion by Dennis Ryerson, a commodities trader. And also by Dr. Ludwig Von Miles, an outspoken critic of the M.M.M. from the start, who just lost his cabinet position advising the Prime Minister on economics. We also have with us Mr. Cameron Barroso of the think tank, _Mobians for a Planned Community_. And last but not least, Professor George J. Shiller. economist and author of his new book, _The Mysterious Whisperings of the Animal Spirits._

"Mr. Ryerson, as a commodities trader, what do you see as the threat to the market as this time?"

"Well, I've seen quite a few ups and downs in the market in my time, and I can't help but feel like this spike is going to come down again. Sure there's been a lot of spending, but prices have been rising as well. Just look at the price of oil; it's up almost ten percent in just the past few months, and other prices have been rising as well. This is a classic sign that we're running low on goods and services, so this boom may very well turn into a bust."

Professor Shiller spoke up, "But Mr. Ryerson, what we're seeing here with the rise in prices is the velocity of money. As money exchanges hands faster, inflation is the result. It doesn't mean that we're running low on goods. It just means that business' are going to take that money and invest it in productive capacity to meet the current demand for goods. The delay in raising the amount of goods creates a temporary shortage of goods, and that creates the price rises. This is only a short term event; prices will come back down again. Remember that demand for economic goods creates supply. Why would a business create a product if there were no one to buy it? It's the principle of the multiplier effect: as people spend money, business' make profits, pay their employees, and expand; so as we invest more money into the economy, we'll only see more growth."

Ryerson reasonably responded, "Yeah, I agree with that."

The host spoke again, "Dr. Miles, what do you have to say about all this?"

Ludwig Von Miles, who appeared as only a head talking in front of a camera, addressed her in a high pitched, heavily accented voice that emphasized the, "s," sound, and turned, "th," sounds into a "z." His accent was slightly hard to follow, but this is what he said, "Thank you for inviting me on your show. We must remember why the people are spending their money, and why it is that this economic boom came in the first place.

"What caused the economic boom was that the M.M.M. created a new currency, and then expanded the amount of that currency, by lending it to banks at artificially low rates of interest. By doing so, the M.M.M. raised the amount of money out there to borrow, and made it less expensive to pay it off.

"Normally, interest rates are lowered by people saving more money. When they save, the amount of money available to borrow goes up, and the rate of interest goes down to encourage people to borrow. When this happens, it incentivizes business to invest more in order to meet the future desires of those who saved their money. People save money for a reason. They do it so they can spend their money in the future; so they can retire, or buy a new house. Interest rates exist for a reason, and it hurts the economy when the government messes with them.

"By the way, what my friend neglects, as regards spending helping the economy, is that when people don't spend, they save and invest. Saving and investing helps the economy much more than spending does. When you buy a product, nearly all the money spent is lost in the cost of producing it, and little profit is actually made. On the other hand, if you invest directly, much more of that money goes into expansion."

Shiller addressed Ludwig, "In the long-term, you're quite right, but this expansion of the money supply is a short term thing, being used to get the economy going."

Miles answered, "As long as the government has the ability to inflate, it will, causing a destruction of property. Politicians always want to look good, so they push the expansion money and credit so the economy will look better on their watch. Technocrats can't resist the temptation of power, either, especially since they are far more confident than competent. I'm not saying that central banking always gets so out of control that it gets out of hand, but it sometimes does. It certainly does do harm in the long run."

Shiller interjected, "in the long run we're all dead." And laughed.

"Quite." Miles smiled, continuing, "Money is on at least one side of every transaction, and as such, money is much too serious a matter to be left to central bankers."

Mr. Barroso snorted. "Oh, so you're a conspiracy theorist!"

Poor Ludwig, helpless, shook his head slowly at the accusation, as Barroso went further on the attack, "Just what do you expect will happen, anyway?"

"I expect that with the aggressiveness of the M.M.M.'s policy, as well as the weakness of the economy from prolonged war, that we'll enter into recession after recession, and soon, a large depression. But if we don't learn our lesson from these experiences, we'll eventually have hyper-inflation."

A protest of noise exploded from all around Ludwig. When he finally got a chance to be heard, Mr. Barroso talked loudly, almost yelled, "You know, I respected you as an economist in the past, but now you're just a doomsday prophet; probably because you're too old to envision a new way of doing things."

Miles raised his voice, but only a little, "This is not a new way of doing things. We've been messing up our monetary system for a lot longer than this."

The host pointed out that the M.M.M. has only existed for a couple years. "Before that," she said, "we had a gold standard."

Ludwig tried to jump in, but the host had immediately given the last word to Professor Shiller.

"You know," Shiller began, "I have a lot of respect for old Ludwig. He was even one of my economics teachers. But in this case, I tend to agree with Mr. Barroso. He's not only way off the mark, but his fear mongering could create fears in the consumer, and cause real damage in the economy, as is explained in my book, _The Mysterious Whisperings of the Animal Spirits._

The host thanked and dismissed her guests, leaving Tails terribly surprised.

He'd heard of old Ludwig. Supposedly, Tails was named after him because he'd saved his father's life in a war a long time ago. He was intrigued by the conversation on the news as well. He thought, and he reflected, and he finally vowed to read all of Ludwig's writings he could find, and at the same time, to read the opinions of competing economists, side by side.

**Blackstone: hey guys. I used two quotes in here that I wanted to point out. One was a joke by Keynes. Once, when it was pointed out that his monetary theories had a very bad effect long-term, and he was asked to comment on it, he joked, "In the long run, we're all dead."**

**The second quote was by Milton Friedman in his book Money Mischief, which I highly recommend: "Money is much too serious a matter to be left to central bankers."**

**Both of these quotes are very famous.**


	14. Chapter 14

_**Syaoron: Lucky you guys, since I got lazy at reviewing, you get a double post from Blackstone!**_

_**Disclaimer: We as a whole neither claim nor own anything from Sega, Archie, Sonic Team, Sonic X, or any affiliated associations.  
**_

_**Claimer We as a whole claim and own this nonprofit, fan-bassed plot and characters not affiliated with the above mentioned.  
**_

* * *

Amy sat and reasoned upon a letter on her lap. It had come from Sonic, who had gone promptly back to the front lines, but remembered those he left behind.

She read again that part which bothered her. It was so unfamiliar to his practical yet sarcastic style of writing that she didn't know what to make of his state of mind. Despite this, his words of doubt touched her heart with hope, and warmed the hearth of her soul.

This is what Sonic said in the middle of the letter: "Amy, do you remember when Tails was wounded, and I found you crossing the street? I remember; you grabbed hold of my arm, worried that I would leave and die as Tails almost did. It is true that I'm a soldier, but experience has shown me that whatever is good must have its purpose. Though good soldiers die every day, Tails is alive. There must be some providential purpose to his wound, and we will see it in time.

"You have been comforted some by Tails' condition, but now that he is safe, you fear for my death instead. Amy, don't worry if I die today; so will it be if God should will it: I am subject to the same laws as nature.

"In this war I've had a lot of time to think, and I believe that everything is done for our good. Even in evil we are given a choice to reject it by embracing happiness, and happiness is our proper purpose. If there were no evil, we would not be able to choose anything. We would become bland: existing, but not living. So even good can come out of evil. And so, my darling, I embrace you and who you are. And if I die today, I will even then be happy. Your love will be my armor and protect me; if not from death, then from my own despair."

A tear slipped down next to her mouth, and she smiled. The corners of her mouth turned up as her eyes turned red and hot with tears. She got up, grabbed her coat, and went to see Cosmo, her heavily empty heart wanting comfort in connection.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"…I have been permitted to do what I liked. And since I loved it, it was right to do it. …if you love, you may do what you like, because if you truly love, then what you like cannot fail to be right." _**—**__**Arthur Henry King.**_

"And now judgment presseth the kingdoms, and of all the heaviest judgments the sword, and of swords the civil sword, threateneth vastation..." _**—**__**Lex, Rex, by Samuel Rutherford.**__**)**_

…_**Syaoron the Fox, sirwilliamblackstone, and prowerboy present…**_

_**M.M.M.: a Prophecy Unto the Nations**_

_**Chapter 14**_

_**The Duty of Study**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

Tails lay on his sick bed, reading a book, when words came to his mind with a fervent and peace filled feeling. He quickly grabbed a pencil and some paper, anxious that the words which filled his mind would not float away.

As more words crossed his mind, he began to write, "To love is to breathe, to breathe is to live, and to live is either to live in fear, or to live with love for another.

"There is that deceptive conception which would place love as a mere feeling, separating it from doing, seeing, being, and begetting its own kind in the mirror of another's soul. But this tricky trap of thought leads us to neglect what's most important; it leaves us unhappy, and even hollow. But the opposite is the plain perfect truth, for love and its freedom is a puzzle: you put the pieces together to form a complete picture.

"And such loving action, given in faith, will be rewarded faithfully: returning love for love, kindness with kindness. I may not be able to love all of humanity, because I can't now know everyone in the world, but I can love my neighbor, and fill them with love through my own. Love is a sacrifice entailing service, and service serves to exalt the soul of the sender and receiver of the gift. It provides joy to both, and this joy ripples out into the pond of people we come into contact with.

"We are here to change ourselves, and hopefully help others. What will be seen is simply what change will take place, whether it be holy, or wholly lacking; for in life we choose not between darkness and light, but either truth or the appeasement of ease."

Tails, his brain fried but satisfied, looked at these words with confusion. He thought of them first in terms of his love for Cosmo, but continued thinking, and soon his mind clouded into a thoughtless stupor. He only knew that he had a responsibility to fill, but did not know where even to begin. He felt frustrated in insignificance.

Soon his thoughts turned to what happened two months earlier, just an hour or two after seeing the interview with Ludwig von Miles. He had asked Cosmo about what had been going on in the monetary system, and she told him about the opening of Fort Cosmo. This intrigued Tails, especially since he didn't recall her ever mentioning it before, and he was pleased that such an honor had come to his girlfriend. He asked her all the details he could think to speak, and when his mind was exhausted, he asked if she would bring him books from the library on these matters.

Cosmo was confused by his curiosity, and inquired after his sudden interest.

"I want to learn all I can," was all he said. The real reason for his curiosity, however, was that he felt uncomfortable with the idea that someone could comprehend what he could not, since he had placed much of his self-acceptance on his understanding of the world.

Still, Cosmo didn't see why, and worried because she assumed something was bothering him. She did bring him books, however. She even became curious on the matter herself, but was frustrated upon picking up a book, when she found terms and equations she didn't understand. Tails himself often had to pick up both regular dictionaries, and ones suited to the subject matter.

He soon got used to the terms, and started making good progress in his study. Economics wasn't the only thing he read, however, and reading had become his chief hobby in the hospital. He even started writing poetry to Cosmo to express his love for her and his gratitude for taking care of him. He often felt useless, but he felt even worse at having to be taken care of. He did not feel worth the attention, or the love.

These feeling weren't helped when Cosmo had to come in that week to tell him the results of a recent round of tests. She told him that his digestive system was in a horrible state. This was no surprise since his whole life was full of stress, and you can't digest food well when you're under stress. Also, a bit of shrapnel had entered into his large intestine. It had torn up his innards upon its entrance and removal.

This was not as bad as the second bit of news, however. It was discovered that his adrenal glands had stopped producing the stress hormone called cortisol. The doctors best guess was that, with all the fatigue of war, combined with the stress of a long surgery, his adrenal glands couldn't keep up with his body's demand for more cortisol, and it had finally quit. This meant that his career as a soldier was over. He now had to take cortisol tablets to make up for his body's deficiency.

Hopefully, in six months, his doctors reasoned, he could help plan military strategies from a cozy office with other officers, but for the rest of his life, he would have to carefully manage his body's sensitive cortisol levels.

In the meantime, Cosmo was happy. Tails was safe, and he would never go to war again. He was with her; he was a dream in days past, but now he was here, and he was with her.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

One day, as the sun shone through the window behind his bed, warming his lightly covered legs, clarity of mind and lightness of heart came, calming his frame. He picked up his note book, his mind empty of ideas. He decided to write a poem, because how he felt fit it.

He sat, and thought, no idea coming to mind. In a couple of minutes, he looked up at the T.V. screen in the corner of the room, and noticed what was on. At length, he found out that some sort of financial panic was occurring. At first, he was stunned, but his mind kicked into gear to determine what this all meant. He had just spent more than a hundred hours over the past two months studying economics, careful to focus on the reasons behind economic crashes, but he had no idea what was or wasn't happening. He was also confused as to why.

He turned on the radio to accompany the T.V., and spent the day trying to find out more. He wanted to know what was happening, since he didn't know how to feel about this yet. There were many theories as to why this financial crash had occurred. Tails took the ideas he heard, and made a simplified list. He did not include old Ludwig's ideas, however; they were not mentioned in the news that day.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The shades of light were dark in the dusk as Cosmo came in. She'd heard about the news of that day, and was interested in what he would say. She saw him lying on his hospital bed, his arms behind his head with eyes closed in peaceful pondering. Hearing her, his eyes opened, and so did his mouth. He welcomed her in with a big, wide smile.

Her heart melted at the sight of his silent smile, and she offered her own as well. She sat down and asked him how he was.

"Did you hear what happened today?" he asked, as if he had not heard her.

"Yes, I did. What does it mean? Is it bad?"

"That's the question, but not yet, at least."

"That's good," she responded, and afterword, turned to check his vital signs. "And it seems like you're doing well?" She asked. She was surprised that he seemed so happy; he was excited, even. She had expected worry from him in response to the day's news, but reminded herself that this was her kit.

"I _am_ doing well," he beamed. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be, when I'm gazing at you?"

She blushed at his cute compliment, and teased in her turn, "Good, now that you're doing well, we can send you back to war."

"But over there I'll just get sick again."

"I'll give you a vaccination."

"You mean a picture of you?"

"Of course," she giggled and smiled some more.

The kit resumed his praise with unrelenting fervor, "I gaze in the clear blue water, and in the reflection I see my face, but in my eyes I see only you."

She raised her hand to stifle a giggle. The kit knelt upon his bed, and moved his head toward hers. She finally managed to mutter, "What clear blue water are you talking about? I don't see any, anywhere."

He pressed his mouth into her hair on the side of her head, and whispered gently in her ear, "your own sweet eyes."

This sent a shiver up her spine; she backed away and almost in fright. She turned away, overwhelmed.

"Cosmo, I'm sorry. What did I do?" Tails said sadly.

"I'm not upset, Tails, it's just a little too much. I understand though; you're cooped up in that hospital bed, and it makes you kind of loopy. It would happen to anyone."

"But it happened to me. I can't understand it. My men deserve better than for me to let them die."

"We've been through this a thousand times-"

"I know, but I'm still responsible for my men."

"And that is why I'm responsible for you."

"I'm supposed to be a soldier, a servant of the public."

"Yes, and there must be servants and masters, but if that is so, I will be the servant of my servant, the same as you are to me. All should serve each other; and I want to wait on you." *

"Your sweet and gentle heart is why I love you."

She teased him, "But I thought you liked me for my beauty?"

"And I do: the beauty of your whole being, including everything about the way you look."

"You don't look so bad, yourself."

"Except for now. But at least I feel good. I've had a lot of time to sit and think. I've grown a depth of feeling which I've never known before. I've felt for a long time a need to make up for weakness, I guess that's why I grew so strong; but now that I can't exercise, I feel a strength inside, and don't fear anything; not anymore."

"I wish I could find myself, like that." Cosmo said.

"You don't need to find yourself, Cosmo; you are yourself. I don't know exactly how to describe it, but it's more like becoming yourself from before."

"Then how do you do that, Tails?"

"I don't know, but I feel like it has something to do with paying attention, and you can't pay attention if you're distracted."

Cosmo sighed, thinking that he may be dropping a hint to her, personally. She decided to verify her suspicion instead of letting this one go, and letting it bother her. "Am I distracted, Tails?" She asked innocently.

"Maybe, but it's hard not to be. You just have to care about everything, and then leave everything you can't do, alone."

"Like the economy?"

"Maybe, but we certainly can't do anything about it until we learn what's going on, and why. I'd like to meet that guy, Ludwig von Miles. I wonder if he does know what he's talking about."

"Well, you are famous, Tails; I bet I could arrange a meeting for you."

"You think you could? Don't you think he's too busy?" he asked, with growing excitement.

"Who wouldn't want to meet a famous war hero?" Cosmo asked with a smile. "Besides, he just got kicked out of his post, and he's not well listened to anymore. Shall I arrange the meeting?"

Tails leapt up to his knees again on the bed and kissed her. "Cosmo you're wonderful!"

"Can I help it when you're around?" she asked with a flirtatious smile.

The next day, Cosmo called the old gentleman. He answered in his distinctively sharp, yet kind and gentle voice, "Hello?"

"Hello, Doctor Miles. This is Cosmo-"

"Ah!" he interrupted, "The lovely companion of General Prower. It's an honor to speak to you, Madame. What can I do for you on this fine Morning?

Cosmo was taken aback by his direct way of speaking, but after a short pause, resumed, "Actually, Doctor, Tails and I were wondering if you could explain a bit more about your ideas."

He repeated her words in confusion, "'Explain a bit more?' I don't think I've ever met you before, but it would be an honor to meet you in any case. What ideas do you want to hear about?"

"The boom and bust cycle, especially this recent financial panic."

"Ah, yes!" he said, and he enthusiastically started delivering his views right over the phone.

Cosmo had to smile; the old man seemed to her as cute as a polka dot button. It was a couple minutes till he paused enough for her to speak without their words running into each other. "Um, Doctor Miles-"

"Call me Ludwig." He said with a smile that could be seen through his voice.

"Uh, Ludwig, I'm not with Tails at the moment, and he's the one who really wants to talk to you. I called to see if you would like to meet him, and talk to him in person."

"I would be delighted!" he almost yelled over the phone. "I think it would be more appropriate if I came to him, because of his injuries?"

"Yes," Cosmo said, relieved that he understood and seemed ok with it. "That is, long as it wouldn't trouble you, of course."

"Not at all, my dear, so when will I come see you and Mr. Prower?"

They consulted, together, and came up with a date, only two weeks later. She gave him directions, and they said goodbye. She was impressed by him in the moment, and felt quite content, but only a few hours later, she started worrying. 'He's too slick,' she thought, 'what if he's not genuine?' This worried her for the next few days, until the memory of talking to him faded from memory. That's when she started doubting his competence.

'If he really knew what he was talking about,' she reasoned, 'then why didn't mainstream scientists- even his colleagues and students- accept his ideas?' The simple fact of the matter was that Cosmo didn't think that after decades of deep study, almost all economists were wrong on a basic point. She felt that though Ludwig was respected and well-studied himself, that people could hear his arguments and dismiss them. She was left in a state of doubt, and kept it to herself, not even mentioning it to Tails. We will see the blossoming of these seeds of doubt, later on.

Most people who claim to be realists are really doubters. A true doubter is addicted to doubting everything, even when their doubts are doubtful. But the biggest problem is when doubters doubt their own doubts, because then they don't even believe in their own thinking, and have nothing in this world to depend on. Every person with a habit of doubting must doubt themselves. This is tragic. If they doubt themselves, how will they accomplish anything? Faith is first in those who do what's right.

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

*A paraphrase from somewhere (I can't remember) in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's, The Brothers Karamazov. It's the part around the middle of the book where Father Zossima recounts his youth.


	15. Chapter 15

The factory felt cool at four that morning. Papers were held by clean, but worn worker's hands. But though those hands were worn with age and labor, they did not belong to an employee, but to the owner of the factory, who was alone at that time in the morning.

He was a self-made man, practiced in practical things, and never overlooked what was right before him. Today, as he looked at the papers before him, concern clouded and cluttered his mind. Those papers were his company's recently audited financial statements. They showed that everything, with only one exception, was going very well with his company. They still had a great amount of sales, better than ever, in fact; but the cost to produce the chips they made, had gone up. They were losing money with every single sale.

His electric bill, for instance, had gone up twenty percent that year. He needed to slash his expenses, but he couldn't think of where to cut. He wondered if his competitors were experiencing the same problems.

'Maybe this is just a temporary adjustment?' He thought. 'Maybe if I can outlast my competitors, they'll cut back and I'll hold a greater market share? But how will I hold on? I don't have a very large cash reserve to spend.' He thought for a minute, 'I'll just have to cut my expenses for a while.'

'If the problem is the extra expense to make chips, then maybe I could put fewer chips in each bag? My customers won't like that, and would eventually stop buying my chips, but if I only do it for a few months or so, maybe I can get by?'

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

**~ (**"The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution. I am an Enemy to all banks discounting bills or notes for anything but [gold and silver] Coin. If the American People allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their Property until their Children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered." _**—**__**Thomas Jefferson.**_ _**Sic, except for bracketed words**__**.**__**) ~**_

…_**Syaoron the Fox and sirwilliamblackstone present…**_

_**M.M.M.: a Prophecy Unto the Nations**_

_**Chapter 14**_

_**The Truth Revealed**_

**+ - + /\/\./\/\./\/\. + - +**

The meeting with Tails and old Ludwig was set to take place that day. It had been about three and a half months since Tail's arrival in the hospital. His frustration at being contained had only grown, and today, he was irritated because of it.

It was morning when Ludwig came in, and Cosmo arose from a chair beside Tail's bed to meet him. She took a few steps toward him, and beckoned to welcome him. He struck her at first as a mild but well-mannered man.

His eyes squinted slightly, and the corners of his mouth turned up as he changed his gaze from the floor to her. With smiling eyes, and voice full of the bright light of hope, he raised his hands, cheerfully, to greet her. "My dear girl, it's so good to meet you!"

"And you too, Dr. Miles." Cosmo said, moderately. "It'll be good for Tails to see you."

He smiled even wider, his eyes in delight. "Always thinking of Tails, are we?"

Cosmo nodded.

"That's good. So many young people today long for love, but never want to give it unless to get it."

Cosmo smiled at this thought, and that it was given in a way that only an old man could. "I do hope I can make him happy."

Ludwig looked over at Tails, on his bed. "I think, my dear, you already have."

Cosmo motioned him to sit on a chair, cold and hard, set up right next to the bed.

Tails entered the conversation. He felt for some reason a need to speak with sophistication when with this gentleman, "Cosmo is like the summer sun." Tails instantly felt like a dork having said it, so he explained himself, "I wrote a poem about her, once, where I compared her to it."

Cosmo smiled, but was too private a person to savor him mentioning this to old Ludwig.

Nevertheless, that didn't stop Ludwig from saying, "that's not quite correct, Tails. The summer sun gives not as bright a light as her."

Cosmo blushed deeply with embarrassment, and was inwardly worried whether Ludwig was putting on an act, or whether he was inwardly sincere.

Ludwig noticed her blushing immediately, knew he had embarrassed her, and switched topics quickly. "So Tails, you want to hear me speak about what's been happening lately?"

"That's correct. And I'd also like to ask you a few questions."

"Oh? And what are they?"

Tails pulled out a sheet of paper. He glanced at it, and set it down. "Well, first off, could you explain what you think caused this economic downturn?"

"Certainly," he nodded curtly. "And how much economics have you read?"

"I've read for a few hundred hours."

Ludwig looked appreciative about the work Tails had put in to learn. He turned his eyes to Cosmo. "And what about you, miss?"

"Oh, I tried to read a little, but couldn't understand much."

"That's ok. I'll just have to use a little bit different terms to explain what I mean."

Cosmo was apologetic, "Oh, you don't have to go to that much effort. You can speak only to Tails. He's the one who really wants to know."

"But you are interested in learning?"

"Yes, if it's not too much trouble."

"It's no trouble. Only real trouble comes when someone doesn't want to learn what affects their future so directly.

"So what happened, in a nutshell, is that when our new central bank, the M.M.M., created a new currency, they then made more of it, introducing inflation. This newly created cash was then lent to private banks and to the government, stealing the value of our money and putting our purchasing power into the hands of those who did not earn it.

"And since the amount of money available to borrow went up, it became cheaper to go into debt. In short, both we and our government borrowed more than we normally would have.

Tails clarified, "So too much money was being borrowed?"

"Exactly," answered old Ludwig, who continued, "Now an interest rate is the amount of extra money people pledge to pay when they chain themselves to debt, and interest rates are supposed to be lowered by people saving more money. Our savings represent what we want to consume in the future, as well as what we could consume right now. When interest rates are lowered naturally through saving, businesses borrow more and expand to meet the future demand our savings make possible. But when interest rates are lowered artificially, that makes it desirable to borrow more, even though there's the same amount of scarce resources.

"You see what happens? Since so many groups are trying to spend the same savings at once, the result is that they cannot all complete the tasks they undertook because we eventually run out of resources.

"The growing government thinks it has claim to the cash. Borrowing businesses think the money belongs to them. Those whose wallets seem so small that they borrow for bills, to pay today, but even those who save may stake a claim and take from the trough that they set up. And since the trough of savings represent an actual amount of scarce recourses in the economy, when a bank runs out of cash or a bubble bursts, the riches runs out, the music stops, and the balloon blows up in our face.

"And it's made more serious since even businesses have to take their previous expansion and throw it away, wasting time, tools, and technology. They do this because their customers can't afford to buy as much. So we are all forced to spend less and save more until we can consume as we were accustomed to before."

Cosmo, with her skeptical nature became curious, and spoke her doubt, "This all seems simple, too simple. If it's really this clear, then why do most of your colleagues disagree with you?"

"Well," Ludwig responded, "they wouldn't really disagree with anything I've said so far. In fact, almost all would say that you shouldn't drastically lower interest rates in the long run, and for the very reasons I just described. There are only two areas of disagreement: most think that other factors are more to blame for downturns, and that interest rates should be lowered temporarily to help jumpstart bad economies."

Tails chimed in, "but what about history? We've had booms and busts before the M.M.M. came along."

"True, but none as bad as this, and there were other schemes to create too much credit. For instance, organizations and agreements were sometimes set up between banks so that when one bank was on the brink of bankruptcy, the others would loan to it, keeping it going so people wouldn't get scared and run on all the banks. It didn't work so well, since the extra confidence these banks received at their new found safety caused them to take even bigger risks and hold less cash in reserve.

"And because they spread themselves thin, when a bank did fail, it fell harder, and the others were less able to pay the people coming to collect in the event of a bank run. And since this scheme failed, laws were sometimes put in place to allow broke banks to withhold their customers' currency until sometime after they asked for what was rightfully theirs. This caused even more problems.

"You see the pattern of the problem? Whenever there's more borrowing than actual wealth designed for that purpose, something will always go wrong, and if we try to solve this by making it even easier to borrow, we'll only postpone the problem, making it worse. If you keep borrowing more and more, even after a crisis, eventually there will be nothing left to borrow. All our wealth will have been destroyed."

Cosmo could hardly contain herself. As soon as he was done talking, she blurted out, "But people and companies spend the money they borrow, and that grows the economy."

The old man showed no signs of slowing his sprightly pace when he spoke, "There is truth to the idea that spending grows the economy. When you spend, a business makes money, reinvests it, and also pays their employees who can spend their income to create further growth. But you have to wonder what happens when someone doesn't spend money. What happens if they invest it? That would be better, because when you buy something, a company has to make another, but when you invest, all the money goes straight to expansion.

"And what would happen if everyone used all their money to buy things, and no one reinvested it? If all wealth were used to purchase, who would produce anything? The assumption that buying builds the economy depends on companies reinvesting the money they make. What if they didn't?"

"Good point," she agreed.

Tails spoke again, "And the idea that interest rates should be lowered is based on getting people to spend more?"

Ludwig answered, "Yes, it's dependent on the very fallacy I just disproved. Now, in fairness, lowering interest rates does make us and the economy look and feel good while we have more money to spend, but when we run out, we only want more. Inflation is an addiction: a drug."

Cosmo said, confused, "But how can the central bank's lending create inflation?"

"Do you know the definition of money?" Ludwig asked.

"No."

"Money is anything commonly used to trade with. If you can be paid seashells for an hour of work, then turn around and exchange it for a new dress, then seashells would be money in that situation. In fact, money doesn't even have to be a physical thing. As long as you can exchange it, it's money.

"When the M.M.M. types into a computer that they have a certain amount of money, even though it doesn't actually exist, and they loan it to a bank or the government, they have created new currency. It especially doesn't matter that it doesn't physically exist, since these organizations can always use their imaginary money to purchase an equal amount of physical currency from the Treasury, who print our currency in the first place."

Cosmo complained again, "But I haven't seen any inflation!"

"Haven't you?"

Cosmo shook her head.

"Tell me, how much have your grocery bills gone up in the past six months?"

"That's a personal question!" Cosmo snapped. Now no one, not even she knew exactly why she had snapped like that, it was not in her nature. But we sometimes snap at a perceived injustice, and those who had warmly welcomed her to Fort Cosmo were now being attacked by old Ludwig. They had honored Tails, and attacking them felt to Cosmo as attacking Tails.

"I did hear you complaining about your shopping expenses the other day." Tails pointed out.

"Yes, I have." Cosmo answered, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to act like that. As a matter of fact, they've gone up about, oh, five percent."

Both boys raised their eyebrows.

Tails explained, "Cosmo, the way you find out how much inflation there is by measuring how much prices have gone up. Five percent in six months is a lot, but it could just be a temporary change in the prices of food."

"Perhaps," Ludwig said. "It's something you'll have to do some study on. Maybe look at other prices and keep careful count over time.

"It's important to know. Inflation lowers the worth of wealth. If someone is in debt, and inflation takes away five percent of money's value, then the amount of real wealth the debtor owes is five percent less. On the other hand, if you invest in a bond, you lose five percent of its value. It's not that printing more money discretely dissolves the things we own, it's that it transfers wealth from entrepreneurs who create things, and gives it to those debtors who don't.

"The thing that's bad about inflation is that it punishes saving and investing, leaving us without the wherewithal to dig ourselves out of our deep financial ditch. It dissolves the money set aside for retirement; the money so long worked for, planned for, yearned for, and leaves the elderly with little left to live on. It entices people to buy things, like homes they can't afford, creating bubbles that grow and blow up right in their face, right when they expect to grow rich. It makes us think we are better-off than we are, and causes us take unreasonable risks with money we don't have."

"All this seems well and good," Tails said, "but one more thing; this is my greatest point of doubt. You've deflated all the other theories I've heard, especially since most were based on the idea that purchasing grows the economy more than producing. But there is one theory, the most popular one of all, and it seems to me to be the most convincing. What if this was all caused by the deregulation that our current Prime Minister put in place?

Ludwig asked him, "And might you list those regulations, specifically?"

"I don't know what they are," Tails said simply, "but Teddy R. Bushachio, our Prime Minister, often talked about his plans to deregulate the economy."

"And can you tell me how deregulation causes the economy to crumble? I want to know _how_ it would, in theory, affect the economy."

"I'm afraid I don't know that either," replied Tails. "But a lot of people are saying it. And it makes sense since deregulation can cause lower business standards."

Ludwig rejoined, "I've often asked people who believe this idea for specifics on which regulations were removed and how this affected the economy, but I haven't gotten a real answer. But even though this is so, they still persist in spreading this notion.

"Almost no actual economists, especially those specializing in this topic, even believe this theory. This idea is usually sold by politicians and political pundits in an attempt to get their man, Franklin D. Barry, into office this election. It's a campaign tactic, but not even an attempt at actual economics."

Cosmo interposed, "But didn't Bushachio deregulate?"

"Well, the occasional rule here and there, but the amount of new regulations far out way the unimportant and out of date ones he did get rid of. Just because a politician says they're going to do something, doesn't mean they'll actually do it. That's partly why they're called windbags."

"I don't know," continued Cosmo, "These people in power are really intelligent, and they've been studying these things for years. I can't believe they know nothing about this."

"And yet they screwed up." Ludwig bantered.

"Well, let's let them set things right. If they're right, and it was deregulation, then when Barry gets elected next week, and all the polls say he will, he'll solve the problem and we won't have it again."

"I hope your right," added Ludwig.

Tails said, "Well, we'll see. Thanks again for stopping by Dr. Miles. It was an honor hearing your ideas."

"It's always good to speak to a man of nobility," was Ludwig's reply, as he got up from his hard hospital chair.

They exchanged a few fond pleasantries before Cosmo escorted him to the door.


End file.
